When Ocean & Storm Collide
by Regja
Summary: " I can't stand Finnick Odair and his cocky smirk with his too perfect sea-green eyes and sandy blond hair. Oh how I pity anyone who gets stuck with him as a mentor." Book 1 in the Girl of the Sea series
1. Chapter 1: Grey Past and Dark Futures

**Ok, Disclaimer time (yeah I know, groan)**

**I do not, nor do I claim to have any rights to the Hunger Games series. All rights belong to Suzanne Collins. (I think we all know that…) because If I did, well if you've read my profile you know how Mockjay would have gone. I also do not own the song used in this chapter; ****A Place in This World, all rights belong to Taylor Swift.**

**The only thing I **_**do**_** own are my OCs, (who you will shortly meet) and the plot. Oh, and also this story is a sequel to the prequel; 'The tragedy of a Pearl so some characters might seem familiar (just a hint) And sorry if there are a few typos, I honestly have tried my hardest to edit and correct everything.**

**Well enough with this boring nonsense, let's get onto the story right?**

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**Chapter 1: Grey Pasts and Dark Futures**

_**A Place in This World by: Taylor Swift**_

_I'm alone, on my own. _

_And that's all I know._

_I'll be strong, I'll be wrong,_

_Oh but life, goes on._

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**I** sit on the shore, the scent of salty ocean air filling my nostrils. The dirty bronze sand squishes between my toes as I stare out at the sea, watching the waves as they come rippling up the shoreline then roaring back out into the ocean. This is where I live, my home is District 4. I am 16-years old my name is-

"Hey sea rat, what'ch you doing so far from home." The voice belongs to none other than the one boy who's pestered me my entire life.

"What do you want Riptide?" I groan, flinging my messy brown hair away from my eyes.

_Oh joy_, I think, as I look up to see his whole party has trailed behind him today. I could see the growing smirk on his face that I hated so much.

"I heard Odair's back in town, seeing as how tomorrow's reaping day. Bet you two will have somethin' to talk about, since you're both in the same line of work."

I didn't have to look up to see the rest of the career boys laughing viciously behind him.

He knew it wasn't true, those rumors about me, of course they weren't.. I will never forget that day three years ago in late August; the sun was blazing hot, the catch had been good that year and school had just started. It was in the middle of the second week back,

_August 13__th__ to be exact. I had just walked into class, handing in my essay which I'd worked hard on all week. I strode over to my desk to take my seat, earning death glares from the other six kids in class who were the Careers of our district._

_The anthem had just played and we sat at our desks ready to learn when received a call, she nodded a few times before hanging up and meeting my eyes. It was at that moment I knew something was wrong. Nothing could hide the look of… was it pity? Or sadness. Whichever it was, she sounded as though she was about to cry when she said to me, "Alanna, you're wanted in the principle's office right away." _

'_Now what have I done!' I think, as I sling my pack_ over _my shoulder, 'Did my mother find the note I stashed under my bed about my 'uncontrollable blasphemous, mouth in school against the Capitol'?'_

_As I shut the office door behind me, what I face could not have come out of even the worst of nightmares. To say I was unprepared to see, four peacekeepers standing next to the Principle in pristine white Capitol uniforms, was the understatement of the year, probably in all of history._

'_Now I really have done it?' I think, the peacekeepers found out about the note and now they're taking me away! I'll probably become an Avox. Or worst case be executed for daring the just and fairness of our wonderful government._

"_Alanna dear," said the principle in a strained voice, _"_why don't you… have a seat, there's something you need to know."_

_This can not be good, I bet I'll be bound an executed right in the square for all of District 4 to see…_

"_Your mother drowned on a boat collision this morning," said the gruff voice of one of the peacekeepers._

…_WHAT!?_

_I was in a complete shock, out of all days my mother chose today to get over her odd fear of boats! They say a shark happened to be in those waters at that very time, no remains of her could be found to be buried. _

_And just like that I was told to pack my belongings and wait to_ be _escorted to District 4's community home for children._

It was absolutely horrible, the things that go on there, are just too awful for words.

Rumors went about the Home girls in 4, things I wouldn't want to repeat. And as you can guess things were said about me as well. From that day Riptide found out about me and the Community Home he teased me daily, especially since he was from one of the richest families in District 4. And now he has and will never leave the matter alone.

I was so angry if only I had trident I'd spear him right now, I don't though, and I was too angry for words. All I could say, in the deadliest tone of voice I possessed was,

"Get out of here," I picked up a rocked tempted to throw it at him but instead I flung it into the ocean.

Riptide's sidekick Tidepool, elbowed him, "You know," he said, "I heard Odair paid a lot of money for her."

My fits were now clutched at my sides, I laid the net of fish beside me and stomped over towards them, fury lighting my face, "If you have any brains in that otherwise empty skull of yours, you'll leave before I gut you like those fish."

I say gesturing with the knife in my hand towards the fish.

Flickers of nervousness and doubt ran across their face's, they stood there for a few moments, each exchanging glances with each other. I allow myself a small prideful smirk.

Riptide however, did not seem swayed by my threat though, instead he takes a few steps towards me standing way too close for comfort. His fingers fiddling with my hair as he leans in and whispers,

"Wear somethin' pretty tomorrow."

I violently shove him away from me with a disgusted sigh. I pick up my net and quickly trudge up the beach, blocking out the curses he's sputtering out behind my back.

I make my way through the undergrowth of trees to where lies the old shack I used play in as a little child. Now I use it as my storage hold.

I close the rusty door and slump down on a stool untying my net. The little house reeks of fish and sand, but I don't mind I got use to the scent ages ago.

I count my catch today; 1, 2, 3,- 6 fish all with sparkling blue-ish/ green scales. Well not a bad day's catch, but not my usual hull.

A draft blows in from the broken window, slightly chilly, but not bone-chillingly cold like it would be in the months to come.

Letting a slight shiver run through me, I cross over to the window putting my fingers to the glass. Looking out, I see the last droplets of golden sunlight. The blood-red rays hung low in the evening sky. Crimson red, like the blood that was spilled every year in the annual Hunger Games.

A gentle breeze blows past, stealing all the warmth in my body at the thought of tomorrow. I just hope I wasn't the one reaped. I pull a ratty old blanket over the window to block the wind and the red sight before my eyes.

A scratching noise comes from behind my back, I turn towards the tiny hole in the wall that's just small enough for a cat to fit through. I see his furry little head nuzzle its way through, and the rest of him shortly follows.

Trouble rubs up against my legs, making sure he leaves his sent, showing that I am his and he is mine.

I pull a small harring out of my net and toss it to him.

He is the one thing I have left of my old life, my baby, the little kitten I've had since 8 years of age. He lives outside now, ever since I was taken away, he always stays near the little shack though. This is our daily routine, I fish he roams, I gut and cook the fish, he gives me company.

"What ever would I do without you," I say, stroking his head and watching him eat the fish.

It is of course illegal to keep any of the fish hull for ourselves, all seafood is to go directly to the Capitol. But the peacekeepers can't patrol the shores 24/7 so it easy, to sneak a fish or two home with you, when you can.

And I was lucky enough to get a job working down by the docks last year. Something my mother would never have allowed. I'm lucky enough that Mr. Helmerson lets meet keep a few stray fish here and there when the catch has been fairly good.

I spend a few minutes outside collecting some fallen palm branches to make a fire in the middle of the little hut. In the center of the floor lies a shallow hole intended for a cooking fire, there's a little wire cage in the back corner of the room to place over the fire to prevent the flames from growing out of control. I sit on my stool placing a rusty old pan on top of it, watching the flames flicker as it cooks the fish I cleaned and gutted.

Trouble lays by the fire, his head wrapped 'round my feet.

Hours later the flames have all but gone out, I lay down on the floor pulling a tattered blanket over my side as I settle in for the night, having made up my mind not to go back to the community home tonight, not with it being the night before the reaping and all. I shiver at the memory pulling the cloth closer around me, how I had to learn that lesson the hard way.

Besides it's not like the caretakers there actually gave on inch about us, they locked the doors at the end of the night and it was your own fault if you got locked out. If you went missing for a couple or so days, they marked you dead. Downed, likely in some kind of accident since most of the home kids had to take up side jobs to pay for the thing the community home did not provide. Which was frankly everything, except for a worn out bed, stale bread and murky water, which you got twice a day, if you were lucky. That is, if you could get to the dinner hall before all the boys devoured everything edible in site. So basically you got a roof, bed, and for everything else you were left to your devices. I suppose in a way, you could say it was a Hunger Games of its own, survival of the fittest. After dark though, when they locked the doors and went home, was when the real horrors began. Most night were… bearable, the boys stayed on their end and the girls stay on theirs, but it was always the boys causing all the trouble, getting into fights over some argument earlier that day, pranks, yells, shouts. One morning some one, and I don't remember who, found Aquarius slumped on the bathroom floor dead. Those where the mellow nights, but reaping night was when all hell broke loose, if you had any brains, as I shortly found out, you'd high-tail it out of there before dark.

I must go back tomorrow though, I can't show up looking like I do currently, with my hair a natted mess, and my ratty pair of ripped pants and shirt, even if I do have a low opinion of fashion I can't show up in the square like this, that will just prove the point that home kids are nothing but dirty sea rats.

I for one, despite what's been said, am not. Or maybe I am, I don't know, it's not like I cared. I've never cared much what people thought of me, that's what makes me so tough, or so my mother used to tell me. And shortly afterwards she'd scold me for my cocky replies I continually spit out at the school bullies. Saying my smart mouth would get the better of me some day. And how had I replied, I had boldly said, "well, when it does I'll have a ship-load of witty come backs I've save just for it." I watch my mother rolled her eyes as I picked up a roll and took a large bite. I close my eyes thinking bitterly of that day, how I had now savored and cherished every last moment I had with my mother as I had that roll.

I can still remember the taste of the soft flaky stuff, the bread melting in my mouth like chocolate, how it tasted like the perfect mixture of butter and salt, my mother's secret recipe. Which she never told anyone, even me.

I absent-mindedly lick my lips, longing for another one those rolls, longing for my mother.

I tell myself to suck it up, she's gone and that's that, no amount of memories or tears will bring her back to me. I scoot closer to the fire, quickly banish the unwanted thoughts from my head before they cause anymore pain. I let the sound of cracking flames and Trouble's soft purr lull me to sleep.

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**Author's Note: So hope you guys like the new story so far, please review if can, thanks.**

**And I know, I know 'Where's Finnick!?' trust me guys Odair will get his shining entrance in the next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2: Distractions

**Author's Note: Yeah, I forgot to mention in the first chapter, the songs at the begin of each chapter are suppose to support its theme.**

**So quick disclaimer, No I don't own any of the rights to the He Could Be the One Hannah Montana song sung by Miley Cyrus, that good enough? **

**On another note, just to get this out of the way, the new OC you're about meet is not suppose to be a poorly written Primrose look-alike (I'm little more original than that I think) and also the scene is not suppose to be a copy of Katniss and Prim trust me o.k.?**

** Also, yes, there is a reason why Alanna has such a non-District 4-ish last name (that's all I'm spilling for now though.)**

**Now, onto the chapter where the 'Famous Finnick Odair' finally shows his face.**

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**Chapter 2: Distractions**

_**He Could be the one, a Hannah Montana song**_

_Smooth talkin', so rockin' _

_he's got everything that a girl's wantin'_

_and I can't help myself from doin' somethin' stupid._

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"OW!" came Coral's cries of pain as I yanked the brush through her hair. How I ended up with this job I'll never know. I suppose it's because I was the only one left in the room.

Her small hand fly to the top of her head, "You hurt my hair," she states.

I rolled my eyes, for having just turned 12 she can still act like a 7 year-old sometimes. "Well if you'd brush it everyday like I suggested you wouldn't have such a seagull's nest for hair.

"But you never do," she counters back, like I too often do. She's picking up far too much influence from me than is good for her, I think to myself.

I sigh standing up setting the brush on her bed, "Do you want the help or don't you?"

There's a short pause and then she wordlessly hands the brush to me.

"Lannie," she begins to say, her back towards me. I stiffen knowing what she's about to ask, "what if-"

I cut her off, laying the brush down hugging the girl who's become a little sister to me. "You won't get reaped Coral it's you're first year, you're names only entered once."

"Three," she corrects me. Oh right, the time Mrs. Gravel made her take out tesserea to cover the cost of Coral's cold medicine. I've heard in other districts they give grain in exchange for entering your name in more times. But in 4 all you get is medicine, and first-aid and ship repair supplies. I suppose the assumption is if you live in a district that's chief export is seafood you must have all the food you need.

"Well if that happens… I'll volunteer."

Immediately she's on her feet staring at me through her wide blue eye, "No Lannie! you can't Oh promise me you won't!" she clings to me tightly.

I pat the top of her head, "It'll be all right Cor," I say, avoiding having to make a promise, Not because I want to be in the Games, of course I don't, I wouldn't wish that nightmare on anyone. But when it comes down to it, what have I got to lose really? I have no family, no one who cares or loves me, my grades have slipped, I frankly don't have much of a future anyway.

I gently ease myself from her grasp and walk over to the mirror and check myself over, I'm clean, my long brown hair is draped over the deep blue dress I'm wearing, the skirt's in waves ending inches above my knee. How I hate dresses, and anything remotely girly for that matter. But this was the last dress my mother had bough me for my 2nd reaping, I remember how I had stubbornly rejected to wear the thing then, I wear it now hoping to make up for my former lack of appreciation. It's slightly disturbing how easily it fits on me, that being three years ago, I suppose I haven't changed much (on the outside.)

Coral comes to join me at the mirror and let's out a pleasant gasp, "You look beautiful!" she says, "even Finnick Odair won't be able to take his eyes off you."

I stiffen for a brief second hating people refuring to him any time they talk about me, which I still don't understand why they do, we've never even met, not even bumped into each other. But even so I can't stand him and his cocky smirk with his too perfect sea-green eyes and sandy blond hair. Oh how I pity anyone who gets stuck with him as a mentor.

Coral doesn't know any better though, so I just wave her away.

Coral gives a joking smirk, turning in a circle,

_Just like you_ says a voice in my head. I blink for a moment, taking in the sigh of a miniature me for a moment, except for her blue eyes, and red-ish tint in her brown hair Coral's attitude and smile are exactly alike to mine. I roll my eyes and smile back. "Come on," I say, "We'd better get down there before all of District 4 wonders where we are."

So here I stand in the square at 2 o'clock, outside the Justice Building. It's a tall, circular thing, made of cold blue stone, its roof made of pure glass. So clear you could see every star at night shining through it. The banners that hang from it blow violently about in the breeze. the sun is beating down hard on me, on all of us.

Four people walk from the justice building taking their seats at the back of the stage. First there's Stella Cart, District 4's escort, followed by the mayor, then Finick Odair strides on to the stage and sounds of fainting and gasping girls can be heard all round me. I roll my eyes to the sky, did someone forget to program these girls with a brain! I look back at the stage when Stella begins to speak, my mind must have zoned out so long I missed the annual boring treaty of treason speech the mayor always gives.

She stands there, dressed in what in my opinion barely qualifies for a long shirt-length of a pink dress, with black heels the color of her hair, her skin's as white as snow in District 4's golden sunlight. "And now it's time to choose the Tributes of this year's 70th Annual Hunger Games," she says with a smirk sneaking a glance at Odair who smirks back her in a flirty way and winks.

_What a jerk-head._

All around me fingers are crossed hoping against hope it won't be them, and others hoping it is them just so they get to spend time with _the Finnick Odair_ (note mocking tone.) I myself stand there emotionless maybe because I did all my worrying in my nightmares last night, or perhaps I just didn't care anymore. A flicker of doubt run through me though, I'm desperately hoping it isn't Coral's name.

Stella strides over to the pink glass bowl and pulls out the paper in a slow motion like speed and reads the name, or perhaps it's all in my head.

I look up waiting for the name to be called wondering what she's waiting for, just say it already! I mentally groan. I watch her lips move but no sound comes out.

What did she say?

She reads the name again and it's several seconds before I realize the person she's calling is-

"Alanna, where's Alanna Birch?"

I'm momentarily in shock, my feet frozen to the hot earth. The girls from my class move away from me clearing the way to the stage. I take in a deep breath and walk forward, my head held high, my eyes trained on the door to the justice building, this is the only way I make it to the stage without faltering.

Once I'm up there I cast a chase glance behind me seeing Odair, the mayor, and an old woman about sixty or so, when she sees me it's like there some sad glint of recognition in her eyes, but that can't be right I don't know her and she most certainly doesn't know me. As I turn back, out of the corner of my eye I catch him, Odair looking at me. And in a way I do not like. I scrunch my nose up at him wanting badly to stick my tongue out too, but I am currently being televised in front of all of Panem. So I settle for a groan of disgust.

Stella pitters over in her tiny heels over to the boy's ball,

I let out a silent gasp as she reads;

"Riptide Sanderblade."

_Oh great!_ I think, I completely ignore him, my focus trained on a palm-tree in the distance, watching the branches sway in the wind. I look away only when Stella's shrill voice tells us to shake hands as is the custom every year when the tributes are reaped.

We're both gripping each other's tightly I give him my signature death glare as smirks at me. Great just great the two people I hate most I'm being for to spend an enormous amount of time with.

After we shake we're quickly herded inside the Justice Building, the glass doors slam behind us with such a loud bang that I'm wondering how they didn't shatter to pieces. I'm ushered in to an elaborately decorated room and told to wait. I'm guessing this is usually the part where people you love come to say their last good-byes. Since I have no one, I'm left in the big, empty, beautifully carpeted room for the longest, loneliest hour of my life.

I stand up from the deep, soft cushioned, velveted couch and come to stand by the window. From here I can see the beach, the waves with their rhythmic beat rolling upon the shore. To my left, I can spot the little clutter of trees where my shack is hidden. This is probably the last I'll ever see of it; of the sea, of home. A sudden thought strikes me! Trouble! My baby, I left him there this morning, asleep in shack, without food! I'd planned to go back and feed him after the reaping, but now…

What a great owner I am! I abandoned the only thing I care about in my life just like that, without even taking into consideration that I might no longer be there after today.

I am utterly furious with myself! _ You idiot!_ I scold myself.

I feel one single, smoldering tear burning down my red cheek. I don't immediately wipe it away.

_Let it burn!_ I think, pain feels good after what I've done.

Then I remember, in the next few minutes my face will once again be all over Panem, and I'll look like a helpless weakling if I keep this up.

It's not long before the peacekeepers barge in and 'escort' me to the train. It's a fairly short drive, since the Justice Building is basically at the edge of our district anyways. I get on the train and the automatic doors zooms shut behind me.

I find myself wandering around the train car, the others are no where in sight, which is odd since I thought Riptide at lease would be get on the train the same time as me. Not that I have any desire whatsoever to see the jerk who will try to kill me in the next few weeks to come. I take in the sight for a moment, the train is a thing for kings and royals!

Everything is bathed in rich colors like deep red, and golds. The floor same as in the Justice Building is thickly carpeted, in red in with golden embroidery along the out edges, and I wouldn't doubt it was real gold either, This being a thing of the Capitol and all. The walls are made of dark cherry wood, here and there are hung large masterpieces of art upon them. And of course as can be expect each one is framed in gold. I rolled my eyes at the Capitol's ridiculousness. The fact that they have time, and money waste on such impractical frivolous things astonishes me.

It's been several minutes and I am tired of watching for someone to show up, so I inquire from one of the servants where my corridors are and he directs me down the hall.

The hall looks much the same as the rest of the train, except it's lined with rows and rows of doors. I'm wondering what's in all those rooms when suddenly I bump into something, well not something but a someone, specifically him!

"Watch where you're going there Seashell," he says, his voice in a low purr.

I instantly back away from him only to find myself glaring straight into the famous sea-green eyes of Finnick Odair.

I mentally slap myself in the face, yeah great way to make a first impression Alanna bump right into the guy's chest. Which I just now notice is lacking a shirt. His eyebrows go into an arch and there a conceited smirk growing on his face.

Though, I don't understand why, until my hand goes to my cheek and I fell it's quickly increasing in temperature. _Just great._

I defensively put my hands on my hips, "Look you got two eyes Odair you could have moved out of the way."

He gives me a look and says, "So do you Seashell."

Seashell!? What's with that? But I let it slide, "Well I was momentarily distracted."

He chuckles, "I'm sorry if you find this so distracting." He said gesturing to himself.

What a conceited jerk! Does he honestly think the world revolves around him! No correction he just thinks every girl in Panem is madly in love with him.

Stepping closer, I decide to return the cockiness, give him a taste of his own medicine, "I can assure you Odair you are the last thing on _my_ mind." With that I turn around flinging my hair with me about to make a dramatic exit when I remember…

"Going somewhere?" he asked clearly amused.

I stomp past him "No, I just…" And for once I am at a loss for witty comebacks.

"_You're smart mouth'll get the better of you these days Lannie." _did my mother always have to be right?

I look back at to see him giving me a smug, 'yes?' Look.

I continue angrily marching down the hall as I hear him call out in a mocking tone, "You sure you know where you're going?"

I wave him away not pausing at all, "I'll find it!" I growl, pushing a stray strand of hair behind my ear.

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**Author's note: O.k. so, that was chapter 2, what do you guys think? Was Finnick too OOC?**

**Oh, and if anyone's confused about anything in the story, feel free to message me :)**


	3. Chapter 3: Dinner Didn't go so Well

**Author's note; O.k. Just want to say thanks so far to everybody who looked at my story and/or put it on their favorites list (even though no one's reviewed yet…)**

**Anyways, if you guys want me to post the entire playlist for this story please review and tell me (yes or no).**

**Also I was thinking of changing the title of the story to; 'When Ocean and Storm Collide'. I wanna know what you guys think, is it o.k the way it is? Or does the new name sound better? **

**(and ya I know, chapter name's not so creative huh?)**

**And hopefully this is edited well enough, sorry if there are some typos.**

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**Chapter 3: Dinner Didn't Go So Well**

I find my room, it wasn't that hard, since there was a plack bolted to it in bold print that read; 'DISTRICT 4 FEMALE TRIBUTE' yeah not exactly hard to miss. I'm pleasantly surprised to find my room is different then I'd expected, it actually reminds me of home. Of course the Capitol's touch is still ever present but that cannot over shadow the beautiful ocean-blues, sea-greens, sunlight yellow, and creamy wave white colors of the tasteful color pallet.

The light sky-blue walls are covered in etched out patterns of sea-life. The carpet is a sandy color almost like the shore.

A tall lamp stands in the corner of the room illuminating light in the very shade and intensity our sun would back home. The lamp-shade is decked out in brightly colored seashells.

And is it just me, or can I hear the soft sound of the waves crashing on the shore? And after a second thought, smell it as well. Yes, there's a faint scent of sea-salt in the air.

The bed, is humongous that's the simplest way to describe it, it's shape like a shell, or more specifically a clam. There's a single white giant pillow on the bed, obviously meant to be the pearl.

I throw off my dress, tossing it on the bed, glad to be rid of it, and go over to the closet. Dresses, frilly, lacey, and flowery tops, flowery skirts that are way too short, flats, heels. I let out a groan, all of my worst nightmares all rolled into one. This all screams one word; girly!

Luckily I do find one shirt that's not overtly girly-looking. And a pair of shorts that are shorter than I'd like, but it beats wearing a skirt. I pick out a pair of boots from the closet, as I'm zipping them up a knock comes from out side the door.

"Dinner's ready darling," says the high-mouse-like squeaky Stella. "Finnick's waiting and I promise you if you make me late I'll make your sad little life miserable."

I immediately come to a decision, I hate Stella Cart.

I roll my eyes, "Don't worry your spacey little head, I'm coming."

I yank open the door and strut out of the room clasping the metallic bracelet I found. I see the look of disapproval in her eyes and smirk. Obviously she thinks all girls should be fragile, delicate little flowers. Well, sorry to burst her bubble, but that's not me.

I'm still in a mood as I storm down to the dining car, yanking the chair from the table and slouching down on it, crossing my arms over my chest. I receive several stares from both Riptide and the older woman I saw at the reaping. "Don't. ask." I say in a seething voice. As the plates are brought to the table I notice someone is missing. I'm about to ask where Odair is when guess who comes up behind me placing his hands on either side of my plate.

"Evening Seashell," he purrs in my ear. I want to get up, get away from him, but he's blocking my only escape.

"Sit down and stop scaring the poor girl, Finnick," says the older woman. I'm silently thanking her.

"Aw Mags, I was just having fun." He wines shooting me a smirk.

Thankfully he listens to her though, and removes himself walking to his seat which, unfortunately, is directly across from mine.

Well, I suppose that's somewhat better.

There some silence and then I guess the woman called Mags says, "Where's Stella gone to?"

I repeatedly stab my fork in the fish, hoping no one notices. Odair however shoots me a look, raising his eyebrow, he knows something's up.

But I simply shrug because honestly, I really don't know what happened to the whiney little mouse, nor do I care.

I taste the fish for the first time, and my mouth is overloaded with the bizarre taste, I quickly grab a napkin before spitting the gunk out.

"Sorry…" I mumble, staring at the napkin in my hand. I can't say I adore fish, I ate it because well what else is there in 4? But this, I can't put a finger on the taste, it's unlike any fish-y flavor I've ever experienced.

I look up seeing Riptide with his hand over his mouth smirking. I narrow my eyes at him and boldly stick my tongue out at him, not good manners I know but hey, I'm just a 'lowly sea rat' what do you expect?

"It's from the Capitol," Odair explains, "it's weird at first but you get used to it." He says sticking a piece in his mouth, flashing me a flirty smile.

I roll my eyes and sit back, curious though why he's wasting his time with me? Or is just in his nature to flirt with anything female? I assume it's probably the latter.

Mags gives a fake cough and says, "Yes well, If you're done flirting with your tribute Finnick, why don't we get to down to business."

I humf in disgust, since when did I become anyone's possession?!

Odair however seems unfazed by this comment, he take's the lead in the conversation.

"I think both of you know who I am, and this is Mags," he says gesturing to her. "We're going to be you mentors for the games."

I roll my eyes, (yes I know, it's a bad habit of mine) way to state the obvious Odair.

I must have said it out loud, because now there's a dangerous edge of seriousness and annoyance in his voice.

"_Both_ of you will listen and do everything Mags and I tell you," he says making a point out of staring directly into my eyes. "No complaints."

I scoff. So now he's treating us like kids?! He's only three years older!

I just now notice Riptide hasn't said a single word, is he sucking up to Odair? "Yeah, we'll see 'bout that."

I stand corrected. Riptide leans back in his chair, that arrogant smirk on his face.

I can't help but sport a glare on my own face as I find myself in a glaring contest with Odair, his green eyes burning into mine. But I refuse to let up my intensity, refuse to turn away.

We're interrupted when Mags says, "Well, if you're done behaving like children, we'll get on to the main reason of this discussion," She's glaring at Finnick, but I have a feeling that comment's directed towards all of us. "When we arrive at the Capitol you'll be sent to your prep team and stylist. Now the truth is you're going to hate what they do to you but it's best not to complain."

I automatically like Mags, she's much more diplomatic.

After than she instructs us; how after that is the tribute parade, then the training, scores, interviews, and finally, the games themselves.

"Now if we're going to work out a sensible plan we're going to need to know what we're working with, stand up."

I shot her a questioning look.

"Hot tributes get more sponsors," Odair points out, that old smirk reappearing on his face.

Mags and Finnick look us over, circling us poking us here and there. I instinctively freeze as Finnick draws close to me.

He circles me like I'm prey, slowly, agonizingly slowly. He comes to a stop in front of me, looking me up and down, then up again.

I realize this was a bad day to wear short-shorts. "You done yet?" I blurt out, crossing my arms protectively over my chest.

I notice his eyes are staring trough my arms, before he looks back up at me, with that smirk saying; "Unfortunately." Then lifts a hand to place the stray hair behind my ear. I immediately pull away in disgust. There is no away I want those hands touching me.

"Finnick!" Mags snaps at him, she then gives me an apologetic look, "neither of you appear to be blood-baths, you both have a fair chance. We'll let you know who's mentoring who when we've decided."

"No need to wait Mags, I'll take Seashell over there," says Odair, his green eyes glowing impishly.

My fork falls from my plate to the floor, no absolute way!

I see Riptide smirking again, "Yeah, think we all know why that is, don't we Odair," he says, leaning back in his chair.

"Oh shut up!" I snap at him.

Odair has a pleasantly amused look on his face as his gaze flicker between the two of us, "Is there some joke I'm not getting."

Before Riptide can speak I put my hand over his mouth, "Don't even think about it." I growl refurring to the dirty lie I know is about to tumble from his lips.

"Why? can't handle the truth?" he says after removing my hand.

"You know it's not!" I snap, putting my hand on my head.

"Sure thing _Seashell_," he chuckles using Odair's nickname condescendingly.

I don't know what's happened to me, but in the next minute I'm tackling him to the ground. Hitting him over and over, until he throws me off and next thing I know I'm the one pinned to the ground, Riptide on top of me swearing, hitting, and threatening me, "You dirty little runt! you better run when that gong hits or I promise you your death will be anything but quick and painless." And that's one of the nicer comments.

"Hey break it up!" I can hear Odair shouting, he's on his feet trying to pry Riptide off me.

"Stinking little brat." He continues to growl at me,

I'm furiously shoving against him, in a weak attempt to escape, that's what I am, weak. I'm clawing and shoving, but no use. Odair has him, grabs him by the collar and throws him to the ground. "Get out of here," he's yelling at Riptide. He reaches down and pulls me up in his arms. I'm thrashing in his arms yelling at him to let me go.

Finally he does and I'm standing there, trying to hide the fact that I'm shaking all over. I take the moment to look myself over and see that I'm a complete mess, my shirt is ruffled up, my arms are bruised, there's a scratch bleeding on my left arm, my face is dirty, there's a scratch running along my cheek as well. I flinch as I touch each wound.

I jump as I feel a hand on my shoulder, "You o.k. Seashell?" I here Finnick ask.

I don't know why but I do, I snap at him, "Oh I don't know, I've got blood seeping from my arms, I'm all scratched up but that's just nothing!"

He turns me around to face him, when I do, anger is flashing across his face, and he's swearing to himself, "Shoot, just great and the tributes' parade is tomorrow!"

I violently shove his hand off me, all he cares about is my pretty face! He slouches in his chair, and Mags is trying to console him, "She'll be fine Finnick, the prep team will take care of it beforehand."

He nods looking back at me.

"Hello I'm the one who just got attack here!" I say crossing my arms, then wincing.

"After you so stupidly went after him," he says off handedly.

"You're saying this is my fault!" I yell at the top of my lungs.

He's picking up a piece of cake slowly sucking on the fork, "I'm not saying you're all too bright Seashell."

That's it! I've had it with Finick Odair! "I'm going to bed." I snap, stomping off, bumping into Stella as I threw open the door.

"Watch it darling, this is a new outfit!" her shrill voice snaps.

"Oh go jump in the sea!" I shout running down the hall, throwing open my door and falling onto my bed. Not bothering at all to change out of my clothes before falling into a nighmare-ish sleep.


	4. Chapter 4: Sea Green Eyes

**Author's note: Just want say thanks to the guest reviewer and TheMaximumExperience for reviewing the story so far. it's always good to get **_some_** kind of feedback.**

**Anyways, let's see if anyone can tell what Alanna's dream is a reference to (hint, anyone who's read The Tragedy of a Pearl might get it)**

**And interesting name for a chapter huh? wonder what that's about... let's just say there's a little more Finnick/Alanna in this chapter.**

**Oh, and before I forget; no I do not own any of the rights to this song; all rights (as far as I know) belong to Taylor Swift.**

**So as always hope you like this chapt****er and please review (even if you don't have an account or are logged in.)**

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**Chapter 4: Sea Green Eyes**

_**Treacherous by Taylor Swift:**_

_Put your lips close to mine, _

_as long as they don't touch_

_Out of focus eye to eye_

_And I'll do anything you say if you say it with your hands_

_And I'd be smart to walk away,_

_But you're quick sand._

* * *

_The deck shifts as a lightning bolt strikes the main mast, setting it ablaze. Quickly the tongue of flame descend the wooden poll design to hold the main sail aloft. I hear a man shouting my mother's name, "Go Shayline! Now grab the baby and get out of here!" Then I see my mother coming up on deck with a bundle in her arms which must be me._

_She's protesting but already he's set her in the little dory promising he'll be right down when the ship explodes blowing the ship into thousands of pieces, scattering them across the ocean. Suddenly the baby in her arms is crying violently, she hugs the baby tightly shshing it while a stray tear falls down her own cheek,  
"Shsh my little Seashell, everything'll be alright."_

I wake with a start as I hear a knock on my door, "What!" I say in a mumbled slightly grouchy voice.

"Breakfast is ready and try to look presentable darling," Stella smirks, using her patronizing nickname for me.

I groan getting up from the bed, swaying a little and feeling momentarily sea-sick. Oh right, water bed.

I walk over to the mirror hanging in the bathroom.

I do look horrible. I was so tired last night I hadn't bothered to wash the dirt and blood from my face, now I look like some kind of tribute that has been in the arena for weeks. I chuckle at the ironicness of it all, that's exactly what I'll be.

I grab a washrag and rinse it under the warm water before cleaning my face, it stings, but it feels good. I look back up to see a somewhat more decent-looking human being. I have no idea what to do about clothes though, what I'm currently wearing where the only tolerable things I could find in that wardrobe. Unless… maybe I'll just have to make a few changes to some things.

I'm standing in front of the mirror fairly satisfied with my creation. After giving myself another quickly look over I'm out the door.

As I enter the room I again get several different looks,

Mags has a look of concern on her face, and Riptide(who I at first am startled to see, but I suppose even a monster has to be let out of his cage eat.) is sitting there glowering and staring. And Odair, is just plain staring, and Stella is fuming.

I yank the chair out as I always do and plop down next to Stella who's turned around and facing me.

"I thought I told you to look presentable! We'll be in the Capitol in less than a few hours for goodness sakes!"

"And what do you call this?" I say gesturing to myself crossing one boot over the other.

She's glaring at me and says in a deadly tone, "Dressing like a district tramp."

I scoff and lean back, "You're one to talk."

Odair suddenly chokes on his eggs and Stella turns all the more deadly, "What?!" she demands.

"You heard me," I say, grabbing my fork and picking up one of the sausages.

Stella turns to Odair with an overtly flirty smile, "Finny," she says in voice that makes me gag, "make the brat stop."

I lean back in my chair and in a mocking tone say, "Yes Finnick make me stop."

He leans across the table and says in a seductive purr, "Love to."

I shrink back in disgust, I should have seen that one come'n

Everyone besides Stella is in hysterics laughing their heads off.

"It's not really that funny," I say in protest feeling I've been made a joke.

Odair winks at me and says, "Whatever you say, Seashell."

I narrow my eyes at him, "You're lucky I'm not the one sitting next to you Odair, cause I would so slap you right now."

Odair puts on a mock hurt expression and Mags slaps him upside the head. I can't help myself but giggle.

After breakfast is over I'm back in my room, sitting on my bed waiting till we pull into the station. Despite Stella and Mags's useless attempts to get me 'to see reason', I'm still wearing the same thing.

Well, Mags reasoned, Stella sort of threatened me.

I walk back over to the mirror and do a quick turn, I honestly don't see what so bad about it, I'm dressed in shorts, a dark blue flowery, feather printed shirt of which I cut strips in the sleeves, and small grey mini boots.

There's nothing much to do so I find myself wandering to the back of the train, I'm standing outside, my hands on the railing watching the scenery grow farther and farther away.

I could win the games. I try to console myself. After all, my mother had told me once that my father was a victor himself. Though she never would tell how he died if it clearly wasn't in the Games. There's just one problem though.

I'm about to turn away when I feel a pair of hands snake around my waist.

"Lonely Seashell?" Odair whispers into my ear. How does he always do that? Catch me when I'm not looking and then-

I interrupt my own thoughts by saying, "I wish you'd quit doing that Odair."

I nervously feel his grip tighten as he smirks, "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean Seashell."

"Yeah right," I mumble, trying to remove myself from him then going to the other end of the train, leaning with my back against the railing, and of course he follows.

He's leaning next to me saying, "You should consider yourself lucky, most girls would love be in your position right now." His face is leaning towards me, dangerously close.

Oh no, is he actually trying to kiss me! I quickly roll away, trying to act unfazed, "And yet, somehow I'm not too happy at the though of dying in the next couple of weeks for the sake of entertainment," I smirk, looking back at him, watching him chuckle at my comment.

"And I do have a name you know, and it's not Seashell."

He strides over to me, gosh he's tall I think as he stands there towering over me.

"I know, but I like calling you Seashell better, it suits you," he says.

When I ask why, he pulls me to him, his lips right up against my ear, his hot breath hitting my face as he says,"Cause, when you hold it close to you, you can hear the ocean."

I'm about to tell him what a cheesy line that was when I look up, into those startling green eyes, which hold me in an unbreakable trance. I've never notice what an odd shade of green they were, sort of like the sunset reflecting of the ocean, only the ocean isn't that green. I can see the little spark of yellow in them flickering with mischief. It's not until he releases me from his gaze that I come back to myself.

What on earth just happened!? My face is red with anger towards myself, for letting my emotions get the better of me, No I assure myself, there is no way I am falling for him, Finnick Odair the Capitol's playboy. Absolutely not! Never gonna happen.

I'm shaken from my thoughts when he says in a more serious tone, "We're gonna be in the Capitol in about five minutes, Mags told me to let you know."

It amazes me how he can oh so smoothly switch from being flirty and seductive one moment, and then entirely serious the next.

I watched, shocked as he leaves the compartment. I shake my head, that boy can sure mess with my head. And with the Games coming up that's the last thing I need.

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**Author's note (again): Ok, I know, kind of a short chapter. I'll just have to upload another one, how about that? Sound good to you guys?**


	5. Chapter 5: Sea Goddess

**Author's Note:O.K just want say thanks to: jellybeanlove, bbymojo, & Dancing-Souls for reviewing the story. Thank so much for the positive feedback guys :)**

**Anyway as always, no I do not own the rights to the song Starstruck sung by Sterling Knight.**

**So with that out of the way, here's the chapter where we see the Capitol for the first time.**

**Hope you all like it, I know it's a bit short so I might have to upload the next chapter (if I have time today.)**

**Oh, and, please review if you can (even if you don't have an account or are logged in)**

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**Chapter 5: Sea Goddess**

_**Starstruck by Sterling Knight:**_

_photographs autograph, _

_the minute you step up the door you will meet the applause._

_paparazzi's hidin' in the bushes tryin' to make a dollar_

_When they see you they scream out loud_

* * *

Momentarily blinded, that's how I feel as I'm stepping off the train. Seas of neon bright (painfully bright) colored fish flood to our station like a disorganized school of ocean fish, I've heard rumors in 4 about how freakish these Capitol people look but even the most outrageous story is an understatement. Cameras flash, one hitting me straight in the eyes, for several moments I'm seeing colors, although that could just be because of the freak-fish I'm staring at (as I've decided to call them).

People are shouting our names, mostly Odair's but I'm surprised to find my name be called among the sea of reporters as well.

'Alanna, can we get a word with you for a moment,"

We're pulled away from the crowd for a moment to answer questions, "You must feel very lucky, every girl in Panem is dying to be in your position." says the Capitol reporter.

I rolled my eyes, "Yes, so I've been told," I see the reporter's giving a weird look which I don't understand till I follow his gaze down to my waist, Odair!

I hadn't even notice until now that he has his arm around me, before I can pull away he mutters harshly in my ear with a smirk, "Remember, don't complain!"

"Is there something going on between District 4's mentor and tribute Panem should know about?"he asks us raising an eyebrow.

"What, no." I scoff, quickly shoving his hands off me, placing my own on my hips in a cocky fashion. I can see Finnick giving me a slightly angry raise of his eyebrows, the cameras don't pick up on it but I do, and I know I'll probably be hearing an earful about it later, but for the moment I smirk. Forget you Odair!

When we finally get to the Tribute Center I let out a breath, "Are they always like that," I ask referring to the crazy crowd of people.

Odair shakes his head and gives me a look, "Nope," he says, over emphasizing the p at the end, "only cause you're the tribute of yours truly," he gestures to himself. Things are going well until he turns on me again suddenly angry,

"I thought I told you to do what we said no complaints!"

I'm taken back for a moment by his intensity, he must have been waiting until everyone within earshot was gone to explode, "Well since when did I become your little play toy," I growl, you want to get angry Odair fine, two can play at that game!

He's glaring at me now I could swear fire was admitting from the intensity. His voice suddenly lowers as he gives me a disturbing smile, "Since the minute you got reaped as tribute sweetheart."

I go to stomp off again but shortly realize I have no idea where I'm going, so I end up trailing behind our little party, fuming. Of all the… what on earth did he mean by that!?

I'm silently glaring dagger's at Odair's back, and yet there was something odd about that look, familiar; like I've seen it before, not on his face but on someone else's. Like a mixture of either pity, sadness, or sympathy. Something's unruffled me about that look but I try hard to block the thought from my mind as I tend to do when I can't figure something out. I learned this technique a long time ago. When I was littler and thing's used to confuse me, I'd get massive headaches until the pain produce tears, which me look like a weakling in class. I quickly learned if I blocked out the noise nothing hurt.

We're handed over to our prep team and stylist when we reach the Remake Center. I find myself sitting on a white fluffy couch staring at the carpet as my prep team burst through the doors, I realize one thing quickly enough, I hate them, not the pure all out to kill someone hatred but I cannot stand them all the same, one of in particular; Nyiad, really seems to hate my guts and all of District 4, or as she puts it, the grimy sailors who handle slimy little fish all day.

I cross my arms and shrewdly point out, "Those _slimy_ _little fish_ as you put it, are in a variety of different dishes you call delicacies." That shut her up. I lean back and smile proudly.

The other two however, Adraina and Uriel won't stop talking about Odair, apparently District 4 is all the rage this year, in fashion and practically everything.

"You are so lucky to have Finnick Odair as you mentor," Adraina, the blue-haired one sighs.

"Adraina, no one cares about you little crush on Finnick," groans Nyaid, the brown-haired one. There's one topic we can agree on I think.

They hand me a robe to change into then have me take a bath after I loudly put up fuss about insisting they wait outside till I'm done. When I am, they sit me in a chair and begin working on my nails, hair, and make-up. I really do hate all this girly stuff, but in an effort to try and do _something_ my mentor told me, I sit there holding my tongue at each tug of the bush or stroke smelly nail polish. Apparently, there's not much for them to work or improve upon, aside from the faded scratch on my face, which seems to have faded so much they haven't noticed it. So we're done within 15 minutes.

When they're done they rush out of the room to get my stylist. I almost jump out of my seat when the door closes with a bang behind me.

I take in the sight of my stylist for the first time, he's tall maybe slightly taller than Odair, and that's saying something. He's got jet black hair and blue eyes. I'm suddenly very nervous.

"Hello, you must be the lovely Alanna. The girls have told me all about you," he says with that ridiculous Capitol accent.

"I'm Pisces, I'm going to be your stylist for the Games," he says, holding out his hand. I stare at it like it has venomous daggers, who knows, with the Capitol you see a lot stranger fashions than that.

He doesn't seems to notice though, he just beckons me to come over as he circles and inspects me," Yes, I can see it, the Sea Goddess of Panem, they'll be screaming your name after tonight."

I slightly blush, then frown and smirk, "I thought that was Odair's title?"

He holds up a finger, "I said Sea _Goddess, _there's a major difference,_"_ Pisces said, putting emphasis on the word goddess.

He circles me again then stops in front of me, "Drop your robe,"

Did he just say what I think he did.

"What?" I say, backing away.

He rolls his eyes as if I'm dumb, "Your robe, take it off, if the dress is going to fit I need to see what I'm working with."

I cross my arms protectively in front of me, "No!" I snapped, no way in Panem was I ever doing that!

He's frustrated now, "Stop being so difficult, and do it."

I glare back, slouching down on the couch.

Apparently I've caused such a ruckus there's a need to drag my mentor into the whole mess.

"And you think she's going to listen to me?" Odair asks, clearly irritated to have been interrupted from what ever he was doing.

"You're her mentor," points out one of my prep team.

Odair is looking at me with raised eyebrows and a smug smirk.

I huff, yeah, yeah, gloat all you want Odair. To him, this is pay back for earlier today. Wait… why is he looking at me like that? Then a though crosses my mind… Oh no!

I shoot Finnick a worried glance, almost pleading;

'You're not really going to make me do it are you?!'

I see that awful spark in his eyes, and he's giving me an evil smile.

My heart starts to beat fast. But then he sighs, the playful expression gone, he turns to Pieces, completely serious,

"Just hand her the dress, I'll meet you there at the gates."

I sigh with relief, of course that's thanks to Odair, so reluctantly I give him a 'thank you'

I think he starts to leave, but then he turns around gripping one Pieces's shoulders and mutters something I'm guessing I'm not meant to hear but I do,

"Besides I don't trust you around her," Odair hisses then walks away as if nothing happened.

Odair doesn't trust_ him_? That seems odd coming from Panem's bad-boy. He acted as if he knew Pieces pretty well, or enough so to make such a bold comment. I roll my eyes, probably jealousy of some sort.

I'm handed the dress, which is actually just a skirt, then my stylist walks out of the room telling me to call him back in when I'm ready. My prep team doesn't leave but at least they turn their backs while I change. When I do I'm confused for a moment where's the top? Then I see, my eyes grow wide. Oh there is no way in Panem I'm wearing that!

"Are you done yet sweetie," asks one of my prep.

I stare at the pair of blue shells laying on the couch where I'd been sitting, I sigh, "How on earth am I supposed to get this thing on?" I say, motioning to the top or lack there of.

The prep team suddenly turns around to see my problem.

It's a good thing we're all girls but still I blush furiously, my hands crossed in front of me.

"Oh," says Adraina, "you have to glue them on sweetie."

I watch as she pitters across the room in those ridiculous Capitol style heels. She grabs what looks like a white gun and comes towards me.

Oh great she's gone off the deep end and is going to shoot me so she can have Odair to herself. I quickly shake my head, _Snap out of it Alanna!_ I tell myself, _since when do you care you hate that guy._

I flinch when she raises the gun I really don't want to die before I even get into the arena!

"Calm down idiot," says Nyaid, the red one, "It just a glue gun."

I really hate her. I think as I relax watching Adraina pick up one of the shells filling it with white goop.

When she goes to stick the shell to me I jerk back as a surge of hot pain burns my skin. I hiss in pain.

She ignores my protests though and there I am standing in front of the 7ft mirror in my blue seashell top and a clear-see-through skirt. There's a slit down the center of the skirt which stops way too high up for comfort. Now that it's been turned on a cascade of water is flowing down the skirt (I have absolutely no idea how they achieved that one. But it even feels wet too as I run my fingers along the skirt.) My arms and legs have been painted with green swirls wrapping around them obviously meant to be seaweed. My skin has been spray with some kind of chemical that makes me appear wet, like I just stepped out of the ocean. There's a gold band around my left arm, I'm meant to look like a goddess but realistically I think just look like a girl who drowned in the sea. I frown, I do look like a District tramp now! I'll be the laughing stock of the parade tonight for sure.

I try to swallow my anger as the door opens and Pieces comes in, a golden writhe crown in his hand, "Beautiful, beautiful, perfect, darling you're absolutely stunning now let's get this crown on."

He places it on my head and tells me to spin for him, I do so and now I am very dizzy (I hope I don't get sea sick out there.)


	6. Chapter 6: Dead Meat

**Author's Note: So here's the next chapter like I said (for once, hehe)**

**anyways thanks to: Maddie B, and Dancing-Souls for the reviews:)**

**Bet you guys will never guess who's 'Dead Meat'?**

**How does a mini contest sound to you guess? Well here's one: anyone who catches the Lord of the Rings reference in this chapter, gets their name in the next author's note in BIG BOLD PRINT along with the name of their story they want people to check out **

**(as long as it's Hunger Games, or Lord of the Rings related, and is NOT M rated or border line T/M of course, and no SLASH).**

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**Chapter 6: Dead Meat**

"Odair!" I shout, as I stomp over to him.

His eyes widen for a second but then he back to his over confident flirty self, "Why, don't you look lovely Miss Birch?"

I'm glaring at him my hands crossed over my front, "Seashells really! That is low even for you!" I growl at him, about ready to hit something, or him.

He put on a mock confused expression, "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."

I huff and stomp over to the chariot shouting over my shoulder, "Fine act dumb, but I know you had something to do with it."

I refuse not notice when Riptide steps onto the chariot I can just tell he's smirking at me.

Mags and Odair are by our side instructing us on what to do, "When you get out there," he says, "smile and wave, and don't be afraid to wink at them."

I glare at him, "You want me to flirt with them!?" I cross my arms, "No way, I am not gonna butter up to them. I can't, I won't!"

And then he does something I didn't think he do, he reaches up and kissed me on the cheek just touching the corner of my mouth. He whispers in low purr of his in my ear, "Just pretend you're talking to me then."

Before I can retort our chariot is jerked forward outside, a cascade of light streams through the entrance momentarily blinding me. The roar of the crowd explodes as the tributes of District 4 make a shining, water-y entrance.

Thousands of eyes are glue on us, I hear my name being shouted in the sea of people. Eyes watching me in ways that make me want to squirm and jump right off the chariot here and now. I feel Riptide lean in towards me, eyes shooting from the crowd back to me, his hot fishy breath hitting my face, "No wonder Odair likes you," he says with his own type of smirk which is different from Odair's. Riptide's is cold, cruel, and condescending while Finnick is just playful and overly cocky.

I try to shrug it off, "Yeah well unfortunately for him I'm not just some Capitol ditzs he can use when he pleases."

As the chariots pull in I jump off, walking straight over to Odair and slapping him across the face.

"What the- what was that for?!" he half shouts and growls at me,

I feel somewhat better now that vengeance has been delt, "For kissing me you jerk!" I spat at him very tempted to slap him a second time. I can't but let a small blush cross my face at memory replaying it in my mind. _No stop it Alanna he's a jerk you don't like him._

He looking at me with a prideful smirk on his perfect face, "It got you to smile though didn't it," He said, his voice overflowing with arrogance.

I'm about to reply when a girl about my age with dark brown hair strides towards us. _Must be from District 7_ I think.

She hits Finnick over the head as she greets us, "What up Pretty Boy, these your new tributes?"

He's rubbing his head as he says, "Yep, and Jo, how many times have I said _do not mess_ with the hair I got an image to keep."

She rolls her eyes, "Poor Finnick you still under the delusion everyone's in love with you. I'm Johanna by the way," she says holding out her hand to me.

"Alanna Birch." I say shaking it. She gives me and odd look, yeah, yeah I know weird last name for District 4 girl.

"Well Odair you better be careful looks like sweetheart over here could give you a run for your money," says a voice behind us. The deep voice belongs to a man who appears to be in his late thirties, he has disheveled scraggly blond hair and is holding himself like he's one too many to drink, I remember him.

"Abernathy," says Finnick coolly.

Did the atmosphere suddenly grow tense in here or is it just me?

Yes, I was right, Haymitch Abernathy the 50th victor, also well know for constantly being drunk.

Feel his hand on my shoulder, "You definitely stole the show tonight sweetheart left my tributes standing in the dust. Though,that's not hard to do," he says.

I steal a glance at District 12's chariot and sadly he right, I do feel sorry for them dressed up in black soot and overalls. What was their stylist thinking? "I'm sure they got as much notice as all of us." I say generously.

Mr. Abernathy just laughs harshly, "I think you need to take some lessons from Odair sweetheart you may be pretty, but your lying stinks."

I'm looking at the floor my face burning red and I honestly don't know if it's from embarrassment or anger.

"Well I got to go make sure those two don't turn to ashes themselves. Nice meeting Miss Birch, good luck out there."

I look up as he walks away only to catch the eyes of the boys from both 1 and 2 staring at me, oh great as if my face wasn't red enough.

"Looks like 2 over there's taken a liking to you," I hear Riptide tease in a sing song voice.

"Oh shut it!" I say shoving him hard. I notice they are not the only once surveying me though aside from 3 the rest of the tributes are all shooting me down with death glares. I shake my head wondering why that could be until I think, oh yes I'm the 'Sea Goddess of District 4', the one who stole the attention right out from under all of them.

As if I didn't have enough enemies, now they'll target me in the arena first for sure. I am suddenly feeling very tiny, very small, and very cold.

"Come on," I hear Odair say, he puts his hands on my shoulders singing them like a flame, "Let's go, training starts tomorrow and you need your sleep."

I nod too tired really to argue. Goosebumps crawling up my bare arms. Mags hands him a blanket and drapes it over my shoulders, I mumble a thank you as we wake our way to the elevator.

As exhausted as I can't not push the realization out of my head, I'm dead meat.


	7. Chapter 7: A Boy I Used to Know

**Author's Note: Some somewhat exciting news, this is the longest chapter I've written so far, It was 20 pages long while the usual ones were 10/12 I think.**

**Anyway, I'm really excited for you guys to meet the new OC in this chapter He may be one of my favorites to write so far. I just found him really intriguing to write.**

**Oh and BTW; Cair's name is supposed to be pronounced as tire. Only with a k instead of a t, (k-ire)**

**because it's Evish, which reminds me, no I don't own the rights to the Elvish language that was created by J.R.R. Tolkien.**

**Oh an before I forget; 'No I do not, nor do I claim to; own the rights to the song; I'm Only Me When I'm With You by Taylor Swift'**

**And thanks again to; Dancing-Souls for being a continual reviewer for me:) and bbymojo.**

**Also the poll is now up on my profile to vote on whether or not you guys want the playlist for this story posted.**

**(Gee I'm rambling a lot today.)**

**One last thing, if you guys could would you mind checking out my other Hunger Games fics and giving me some reviews?**

**And I do advice you guys to read the prequel Song fic; 'The Tragedy of a Pearl' it will give some background insight to this story (even though I'll admit right now; I hated writing the main character she was just too girly to me)**

**Well, now that all that's done, onto the story.**

* * *

**Chapter 7: A Boy I Used to Know**

_**I'm Only Me When I'm With You, By Taylor Swift:**_

_I don't have to hide my tears, secrets are my biggest fears_

_Through it all nobody gets me like you do_

_And you know everything about me_

_And I'm only me when I'm with you_

* * *

Our apartment is huge to say the least. When we get in I quickly go to my assigned room and change out of my ridiculous flimsy costume thankfully find my closet is not full of dress. Actually to my pleasant surprise everything is just my style, I pull out a red top, black skinny jeans, and leather boots. Thankfully the temperature's warmer in our apartment so I just go without a jacket.

I sit a the dinner table across from Mags and Finnick trying hard not to yawn as dinner is brought out, the servant a young boy about my age,_ Must be an Avox_ I think, places the plates down in front of me I look up to see he has a very familiar face, bronze skin typical of District 4, hair that's a light shade of brown tinted by permanent golden glints of sunlight , his eyes are sad and cold, as they catch my gaze for a sliver of a second. Do I know him?

He looks away quickly making an obvious effort to finish his job quickly.

I catch Finnick's eyes on me, looking at me quizingly, but I'm not paying much attention, my mind is being brought back in time when I had just turn 10,

_I was sitting on port side of the boat staring at the colorful reef below, my best friend Cair at my side, "How far down do ya think it'd take to reach the bottom," I heard my 10-year old self ask._

_Cair's father had taken us out their family's little fishing vessel on one of his rounds, it took much convincing my mother before she let me go, because her strange fear of the sea but somehow Cair and I had managed it. _

"_I donno," he said, leaning over the rail with me, "But wouldn't your mother be in a fit if she found out you went into the ocean."_

_I leaned back he was probably right, "Why weren't you at school today Cai?"_

_He mumbles something I can't quiet hear, I ask him to repeat it but still it's muffled finally he says, and a bit too loudly, "I wrote 'I hate the Capitol on my paper!' There you happy!"_

_I quickly shove my hand over his mouth, our parents had told us numerous time how dangerous it is to go around blurting stuff like that out loud, and Ciar just blurted it out loud and clear for all of District 4 to hear._

_We both sunk below the rail pressing low to the ground, as if it would hide us somehow from the open sky above._

_A few moments had passed and my heart slowed to a reasonable beat, I slap my hand to my head shaking my head, "Cair you are the biggest idiot in 4 I have ever known."_

_He punched me in the arm and I shoved him back, how I miss those days._

_I smiled at him, and he grinned back, "Cair, Alanna? Are you two behaving yourselves? I heard his father call from over his back, not bothering to turn around as he cast the woven net into the sea. _

"_Yes Dad!" Cair shouted._

_I sorely wondered what it would be like to have a father, mine died before I could talk, I sometimes imagined what he'd be like if he was still here…_

"_You o.k. Lannie?" Cair asks me._

_I nod looking over the rail, "What's that there," I say, pointing my finger at the dam._

_Cair peers over my shoulder, "Looks like a hole in dam."_

_I stare at the concrete wall imagining what's beyond "Wonder what's out there, beyond the dam I mean."_

_Cair ruffles my brown messy hair, "You're too curious for your own good Lannie."_

_Maybe so but an adventure like this is great to leave unhad._

_I swing my leg over the metal railing, when a hand reaches out to me and yanks me back,"What are you doing?"_

"_Come on," I say now sitting on the edge, "don't you ever wonder what's out there Cair?"_

"_Yeah sure I do but-"_

"_Then come on," I say jumping off into the water, It takes him a few minutes to agree but here we were on the other side of the dam minutes later, splashing around till we spotted a little island a ways off we pulled ourselves up on the shore, lying there on the sand letting the rays of the golden sunset us off. Cair picks up a shell and hands it to me, it's a beautiful blue, all the shades of the ocean mixed into one, I giggle and thank him putting my ear to it. _

"_What can you hear?" he asks._

"_The ocean, our ocean." _

_He looks at me confused._

"_The waves out here have a different a sound, like ringing bells listen," I say holding the shell to his ear._

I will never forget that day, not long after Cair and his father had to move away for reasons I never found out. All I knew was how empty I felt inside, from then on I always kept to myself, I had no friends nor did I want any they'd simply grow close and then up and leave me just like Cair.

I stare at the boy across the room, a tear at the edge of my eyes. _So that's what became of him_ I think, but what happen to his father? The boy I'd grown up with trusted with my secrets resulted to this! A mere slave to the Capitol. I badly wanted to rush to his arms hold him tightly, a strand of home in this dark terrifying place.

"Cair?" I whisper just loud enough for him to catch his name being uttered from my lips, he turns his head his eyes boaring into mine, the smallest smile pricks his face.

"Seashell!" I turn around to see Odair still staring at me looking somewhat agitated.

What! I mouth.

He rolls his eyes and says slowly as if he's said this for the hundredth time, "Your dinner, is getting as cold, as an ice cube." He said motioning me to eat something.

I pick up the fork poking it around but really having no appetite, at least, not anymore. My hair falls in my plate but I don't really care. I place fork back down sighing, "I'm not hungry."

"You need to eat something dear, training starts tomorrow and you're as thin as a pick," Mags tells me.

I try to eat a little but have a hard time swallowing.

"Speaking of training," said Odair, picking up his glass, "We need to start working strategies."

What strategies?

"Like," I insist.

"Like your image. How we're going to pass you off in the interviews, how you'll act during training. I'd advice showing off if you want an alliance with the Careers, otherwise lay low and stick to stations you know nothing about." He takes another drink. Stop watching his every move I tell myself, he's going to think you actually like him!

"Which brings up another thing, both Mags and I need to know what your skills are if we're going to plan this out."

I sit there quiet not saying anything, I know he's expecting me to start rambling on but no way am I letting 'Mr. Attitude of a killer Shark' over there know what I'm good at, and also I'm not even sure myself since I've never trained like the rest of the kids in our district.

Riptide breaks the silence by immediately going on about how good he is with a sword and how he's top of his class in training, running lifting weights. When Mags asks him his weaknesses he of course says 'nothing'.

"How about you Seashell?" Odair asks me.

I can tell Riptide's smirking at me and I can help but catch the word 'runt'. I cross my arms in front of him, "I'm not sayin' anything with him in earshot," I say nodding to Riptide.

"Why," he smirks at me, "embarrassed Odair'll find out you can't do anything?"

I'm glaring daggers at him clutching the knife on the table,"You're gonna find out what I'm capable of in a minute if you don't shut up!"

I can't resist hurling the knife at the wall, it lodges in the painting hanging on it, right through the ship's mainsail. This is mild compared to what I can really do though.

"Finnick dear!" Stella's high squeaky voice chirps, "the recaps have started come watch,"

I watch him roll those sea-green eyes, as Stella struts into the dining room in those tiny heels of hers. I just now realize she wasn't at dinner, I think about it, does that girl ever eat? She's thinner than me, and that by the way is saying something.

"Stella," I say, "aren't you going to eat anything?"

She waves me away, "Oh no, I already ate at breakfast this morning."

Which was at 7am, approximately 12 hours ago.

I shake my head capitol people sheesh.

" Alright, we're coming," Finnick gets up holding out his hand to me. What? Like I can't get up myself. He stares at me with those sea-colored eyes until I cave in.

"Ever the charming prince," I mutter sarcastically.

I sneak one look back to see Cair has mysteriously disappeared.

We're all gathered around the gigantic screen watching the replays of tonight, and Lucky me I got stuck sitting in between, yes you guessed it Riptide and Odair.

In my honest opinion the costumes this year look pretty bland. District 1 is on the scene first wearing millions of gems and jewels and sporting blue and purple hair. I laugh to myself, they actually let their stylists dye their hair?

Next put is 2 looking as ruthless as ever, I can't help but mentally shutter at the sight of the boy tribute, he's a monster! He must be well over 6 feet tall, and with that sword in his hand he looks ready to kill. It's then I notice the blood dripping from the blade (whether it's fake or not I'll never know.) he dressed in nothing but black pants that are inlaid with chain mail ringlets.

I most definitely do not want to come across him in the arena, I'd be dead in a second, and I don't want think in what cruel sadistic way either.

I feel Odair's arm go around me pulling me closer and I try in vain to shake him off, I sigh grudgingly, I do actually feel a little safer.

"Scared Birch?" I hear Riptide smirk.

I would answer but I'm too busy shaking.

"She has every right to be," Odair spits back, "and if you had any scene you would be too."

My gaze shoots to Finnick, since when did he assume the role of trying to defend me?

"I'm not scared." I growl upset with looking weak in front of the enemy. I leap from the couch and slump in a chair.

Riptide just scoffs, "Yeah, right Birch, and the waves don't crash on the shore every day from sunrise till dusk. Abernathy's was right, you're a terrible liar."

I growl at him then look back at the screen catching a glimpse of the girl as they ride by. She is not as tall as the boy but looks just as threatening, with her cold hard face, crow black hair, and blood red lips. She's dressed in attire similar to that of her district partner a crop chain mail top with a tiny skirt and chains hanging off them and black gladiator shoes, a knife notched in her belt.

District 3's up and I have to overt my eyes from the screen, they're wear nothing but electrical wires! It's common knowledge that 3's main export is technology but gees show some decency.

Then there's us, I hide my face in my hands I cannot watch this! The roar coming the crowd drowns out anything and everything else. But wait, where is that sound of oceans waves coming from? I look at our golden chariot, the horses look gorgeous if nothing else. Like water horses just come from the sea, their white coats glistening with blue flecks and gold. I always have has an odd thing for horses.

I stare at the screen in disbelief, I actually didn't make a fool of myself? (Well aside from the fact I am blushing like an idiot but I think the glare covered that.)I still hate my costume but I can't help but admire the realistic water cascading down my skirt. I watch Riptide leaning in whispering in my ear. Oh great now everyone's going to think there's something going on!

I don't know how I didn't hear him but he's there with his head over my shoulder before I get a chance to jerk away,"Hm, well, I definitely know angle we're goin' for with _you _Seashell."

I twist around shooting him a confused look.

"Fierce and attractive," he says the last word with a purr, the vibration still echoing in my ear.

I roll my eyes, "Oh please, I am not!"

Finnick fake gasps, "You mean you don't see it darling," he says in a mock capitol accent, "You're the Sea Goddess of Panem they'll be screaming your name after to night!"

I honestly can't help but laugh, "You heard that?"

He throws up his hands, "How could I not he was telling everyone in the stadium."

I sink my face into my hands, just great!

He comes around in front of me, gently removes a strand of hair that has fallen in front of my face, "He was right though Seashell."

We both end up staring at each other for several seconds.

"Oh will you two just get a room!" Riptide snaps.

Odair starts laughing as I shriek, "what Ew!"

I glare at Odair and punch him in the arm, "That is not funny!"

I shoot my gaze in Riptide's direction, "And you, you're just low and disgusting!"

He rolls his, "Please, like he isn't thinkin' it."

Both of us are glaring, me at Finnick and Finnick at him.

"I think we should all go to bed," Mags interrupts our little staring contest, "it's late and both of you need your sleep."

Strange as it seems I had completely forgotten I was even tired, I suppose the sudden adrenaline of anger woke me up.

With a last look in my direction Riptide shoots me a wink, "See ya in the morning Princess."

Princess!? I'm use to him calling me all sorts of names, but princess? I shake my head, where did he get that one?

I say good night to Mags as they leave, then pull myself out of the chair and go to my room, forgetting to close my door.

There's the thud of the door slamming behind me and I jerk around to see Finnick leaning against the door, his hands crossed in front of him.

"So, spill it."

For a moment I wonder what on earth he could mean…

I list everything off the top of my head, "I'm fast, I'm good at camouflage I can swim, I can climb anything, I'm good with a knife, and I'm clever enough to stay alive so far." I plop down on the bed, I can't help but say the bit with a smirk.

"And?" he asks.

I take a deep breath, "I've never trained, I stink at throwing spears, I'm small, skeletons creep me out, the color orange makes me nauseous." I honestly can't of anything else to add.

I watch him, his eyes trained ahead on the wall completely void of emotion, is he pleased or stressed that he's got nothing to work with? Finally he speaks and even though it's in a hushed tone it seems as if his voice fills the whole room. "When you go down for training tomorrow make sure One & Two have you on their radar, show em' what you got and don't be afraid to throw a few winks."

I spring from the bed, "Wo, hold on a minute! Who said I wanted to get in with the Careers anyways."

He just replies calmly, "You're from District 4 that's what everyone's expecting."

I roll my eyes, "Well in case you haven't noticed I don't exactly fall under the normal category." Then I add, "Plus they're cruel and sadistic, who hunts down people and kills them for fun!"

Finnick looks me straight in the eyes and smirks, "That's the rules of the game sweetheart, kill or be killed."

Well what if I don't want to be a murderer!?

I cross over to the opposite side of the bed staring out at the large glass window.

Realization must have hit him because I hear him groan as he says, "Oh don't tell me you're one of those types!"

I twist around, "One of what?"

He rolls his eyes and says in a mocking tone, "The tribute who throws their life away right of the bat because they can't actually bring themselves to fight to save their worthless life."

I huff, "Well sorry but murder wasn't exactly on my list of things to accomplish before I die."

He shrugs, "Things change when you're in there, values become less important than impulse to survive. Or at least they will, if you ever want to see your family again."

I fiddle with the hem of my shirt, there's odd, dead silence, just sitting and more silence until-

"Finnick, Finnick dear where are you," Stella chirps passing right by my door.

He sighs and pushes himself up off my bed, "Get some sleep, I'll see you in the morning." And then he leaves.

I stare out at the window, the pool of darkness outside, the same darkness that will envelope my vision as I take my last breath. I wonder what's like to die, does it hurt? Did it hurt when my mother and father died? At least I'll be able to see them again.

I collapse to the floor, what am I going to do?

I felt someone sit down next to me, at first I though it was Odair but no. Cair holds me in his arms and I start to cry, he's the only one who's ever seen me cry, which was only once when my pet fish Fishy died (I was five o.k., give me some credit!)

I wipe my tears, say I'm fine. But he knows I'm not.

And then I break down again saying I'm sorry as if what happened to him, what the Capitol did to him is somehow my fault.

He just shakes his head.

I hand him a piece of paper and pencil, "If you can't talk out loud you can at least write it down right."

There's a light in his eyes, as if some one has opened the door to his cell of silence. He hands me the paper when he's done,

**I'm sorry I left you, we should have never have gone.**

"Why did you leave?" I say out loud.

He writes:

**My father got a job in the Capitol, one of his friends was a victor, it's complicated.**

I can't help but wonder what Cair did, why he's a mute, knowing him he always was prone for getting into trouble but that was usually after I pushed him into it.

"What… happened," saying 'what did you do to get your tongue cut out' seems a bit harsh.

**Let's just say you rubbed off on me.**

There's something he's not telling me, but I don't ask, if he won't tell me it's for a good reason, so I let the matter go.

I yawn loudly, I guess my exhaustion has come back.

There's a bemused smile on his face,

**You need to go to bed.**

I nod, "I know, I've been up since 6. Being put on display for the whole country to see really takes a lot out of a person I guess,"

I change in the bathroom then climb into bed, he hands me the note and pencil about to leave but I grab his arm before he goes and hand him the note;

_I really missed you._

He motions for the pencil the hands both back smiles at me and leaves. I look down at the note;

**Me too.**


	8. Chapter 8: Hook, Line, and Sinker

**Author's Note: O.k. real quick want say thanks to: bbymojo, and decodeme312. Thanks for the good feedback guys.**

**Oh and another note; School's finally out as of today so I should have time to write more Yes! :)**

**And there are a few new OC's in this chapter, one nice and one, not so nice (more like menacing) Anyways, hope you like them feel free to give me your opinion.**

**And yeah keep up the good reviews, thanks I really appreciate it. :)**

**Yeah still trying to edit, but I just had to post the next chapter so sorry if there are any typos.**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Hook, Line, and Sinker**

I wake up to possibly the loudest alarm clock in the world. Worse so, it's positioned directly by my ear. I swear if I'm deaf for the Games I'm calling a suspension.

I hit the alarm and roll over, falling right over the other side of the bed onto the floor. _Well isn't that a great way__to start the morning?_ I lay my head back down on the sandy carpet contemplating falling asleep here, the floor is just so nice and soft-

"Darling wake up! We're eating in five secs with or without you."

I groan, Stella's squeaky little voice is the last one I want here first thing in the morning.

I heave myself off the floor and go over to the bed seeing my training outfit laid out for me; a pair of black (extremely short) shorts, and a blue crop top with shells lining the straps, and black mini boots. I can't help but groan, obviously Pieces's design.

With my head held high I stomp out of my room ignoring the rude whistles I get from Odair. Oh, how I'd like to cut out his tongue and make _him_ an Avox!

"How on earth am I suppose to train dressed like this!" I cannot help but whine.

"Well with that hook line and sinker thing you got goin' for you you'll certainly earn Two and One's attention," I give him and odd look, "your look, that smart mouth, and your skills."Odair says cutting the pancakes on his plate, all 6 of them! I shake my head wondering how he can eat so much and still look the way he does.

Riptide comes in, dressed in traditional District 4 colors; a black t-shirt and dark blue pants, his hair in a mess. As soon as he spots me he lets out a low whistle, "What the heck happened to you?"

I turn around crossing my legs, "Yeah, yeah stare all you want. I swear my stylist is so dead," I grab a muffin from the table squeezing it like to do to my stylist head. It turns to mushy crumbs in my hands. I wipe my hands of the mess on a napkin.

Getting up from the table Finnick says to me, "Well, I certainly won't stand in your way."

He sits back down with another pancake on his plate, honestly!

He hands me one of the flake-y rolls from the basket, "Here try one, they're pretty sweet."

I grab it and bite into it, instantly sweet juicy flavor bursts in my mouth it's kind of gooey. It taste like peaches. I quickly devour the rest of it licking the crumbs of my lips when I'm done.

I reach across the table for another one.

"They're called turn-overs," he says with an amused smile, "but I wouldn't eat too many of em' they'll give you a sugar rush."

I notice Mags's isn't here, or Stella. I ask where they are and Finnick says Mags is still sleeping and Stella got fruit-bar (whatever that is) and left earlier.

When the plates are cleared we're about to head down to training as Odair is give the last instructions,

"Stay near the weapons station, but don't work as hard as you can."

As we leave he shouts to Riptide, "And don't show off like a cocky peacock!"

I feel Riptide growl beside me as we enter the elevator.

"You're not my mentor!" he snaps, and then with a jolt the elevator descends.

The head trainer Gladius I think, gives some long introduction speech about conduct rules and what we can and cannot touch, I feel like a 5th grader on school trip to a museum by the way he's talking.

"No induced combat with other tributes, weapons are to be used solely against the artificial targets provided. All practice fires are to be supervised and contained within the anti-flammable chambers at all times. If at any time you conceive of an injury, you are to immediately report to the attendant at the First-Aid station. If any of these rules are violated at anytime you will be banned from any and all services the training center provides."

See what I mean? Snore!

Before he can even finish saying 'dismissed' the Careers are at it, owning the weapons section like marked territory.

I take an invisible deep breath and plaster the smirk on my face as the act begins. Strutting over to the swords I grab one of the broad-blades and prepare to slice the stuffed makeshift dummy in two. The blade smoothly severs the heads of two dummies in one blow, they roll to the floor stopping in front of the District One girl who is vainly trying to throw one of the 50lbs. solid gold tridents. I smirk, waving at her haughtily.

Appearing slightly bored, I go over to the archery section, this ought to be interesting since I have never in my life handled a bow. I pick up the bow and quiver of arrows swinging the strap over my shoulder.

After stringing the bow I pull out one of the metal arrows, notching it to the bow, then tensely pull back. _Well… here goes nothing._ I think, as I release the pressure letting the arrow fly free. My eyes are trained on the airborne thing as it hits its target right on the collar-bone of the silhouette. Hm, not too bad.

"Not bad, very impressive."

I feel him, the monster boy from Two breathing down my neck as he says, "There's a spot left open in our alliance, how about it, you in hot stuff?"

I cock my head around and smirk, "Tempting as that is, I think I'll pass," I say patting his cheek.

The massive boy in front of me frowns, his brown eyes turning a shade darker, "I would think it over if I were you 4, seems your District partner's already made a smart choice."

Out of the corner of my eye I see Riptide throwing tridents obviously showing off to both District One and Two girls.

I'm glaring, _my 'District partner' is a mouse-brained idiot._

"Let me know when you've changed your mind, though just a warning the offer isn't good forever." He says, and the walks off.

My eyes fall on the guns, guns?! There have never been guns in the Games since the first one. I remember it clearly in history class learning about the first Games, how any air born weapons were prohibited because they resulted in quicker bloodless deaths. Which still strikes me odd why archery is allowed? I see 12 has already claimed that station however. So I spend the rest of my time at the plants and environment section making sure to stay clear of the obstacle course, knots station, and the climbing wall since I'm highly excelled in those areas.

Sadly, as I approach the plant station District 9, and 10 quickly back off. Sigh, the curse of being from a Career District, I'm doomed to be friendless forever.

I made sure to stay at that station for the rest of the day till lunch break and after that we all went back to our assigned floors. I was going over in my mind the events of today, prepared to tell Odair how I wiped that smirk right off that career boy's face as the elevator door opens, my mouth hangs open and I stop dead in my tracks. There on the couch, with their backs to us sat Finnick and Stella obviously making out. He's laying back on the couch with that crow-haired ditz right on top of him kissing his lips off.

I make a coughing noise to get their attention.

And of course Odair acts as if nothing happened at all, "How was training."

I roll my eyes, while we're workin' our butts off all day he's been sitting up here getting cozy with that mouse-brain of an escort! I I'm trying to restrain the anger in my voice, "Oh just fine, they all hate me now and I'm the number one target,"I scoff, "I'll be in room, let me know when dinner's ready."

I then smirk at Stella, "If you two think you can bear to keep your lips off each other long enough."

Then I proudly strut out of the room, slamming my door making sure the sound reverberates enough to be heard.

I grab one of the butter knifes of the coffee-table and hurl it into the big glass window; the glass instantly shatters, scattering splinters across the floor.

I can't help but feel curiosity pulling me towards the open air. My feet are at the ledge dancing on the line of a fatal fall. I could just take the step, let it all be over with now, but either the cowardness in me or something else pulls me back. I sink down on my knees watching the sunset, oddly enough it appears almost pretty, the light-blue droplets of tears merge with soft glows of sunlight as light drains from the sky. I need to climb, looking in the corner to my left I see a drain pipe leading up to the rooftop. I kick off my boots and grab onto the pipe, climbing up the side of the wall like I do the rigging on the ships so often, only there are cross bars to heave and pull up from, but all climbing is generally the same. I keep at it till my hands find trailing and I pull myself up over the side. Rolling over and collapsing to the cemented floor.

"I didn't know District 4 was know for its climbers."

I look up to see the boy, I think from District 7 gazing down on me.

I get to my knees brushing myself off, "Yes, well," I say, "there are a lot of things people don't about 4."

By now the sun has all but gone completely from the sky, the last golden drop falls in the boy's warm brown hair, "Oh, prey do enlighten me."

Odd this one, I cannot help but think, I have yet to meet anyone with a vocabulary wide enough to meet my own. Which as you can guess gets extremely agitating that I have to dumb down my speech to please others.

"Well for one, not all of us are bronze haired trident wielding, arrogant idiots."

I see a somewhat smug look on his face, "If I may be so bold to say, you have failed yet to provide proof otherwise."

"So have you if I might add. I had the pleasure of meeting your mentor by the way, I believe her name was Johanna Mason, and I must ask are all people in District 7 so snarky or is it simply you two?"

"Touché," he says mock bowing in defeat, "though I suppose we all have put on some kind of mask since we entered the Capitol."

Somehow I can not help but think this boy is the most genuine person I've met here though, even after only knowing him a few seconds, which then I notice I don't even know his name.

"Would it be prying to ask your name?" I say.

He nods, "It's Jack, Mason."

A light goes on, "So then-" I begin to ask but he beats me to it.

"Yeah she's my cousin, but I can tell you one thing though _she's_ definitely not putin' on an act. That attitude, yeah that's all her, she's like that at home all the time."

It's so odd how he can have such an upbeat attitude given the circumstances we're in, his being far worse than my own even. It must be tough having someone so close to you as a mentor, someone who would actually care and cry for you when you died. At least he's got a reason to live for though.

"And I'm Alanna by the way,"

"Yeah I know," he says and I'm afraid he about to add 'you're Odair tribute' or something along those shallow kind of lines but instead he says, "everyone had their eyes on you this morning, I'd say you even scared the Careers a little."

I chuckle a little, _yeah I bet._ I lean against the cold railing looking out at the sky seeing that the light around us has now turned into a darkish blue, I probably should get back.

I'm drawn from my thoughts when Jacks says, "Forgive me if this sounds random but my partner would chop my head if I didn't ask," and I see him put on a mock girly expression, "what's the great Odair really like?"

I smirk at the thought, "Oh alright I suppose, If you don't mind having a mentor that does nothing but flirt with you. And then wastes the rest of his time having a fling with your escort instead of trying line up sponsors that could be your lifeline in the arena!" I am fuming by the end nearly spitting out my last words.

He nods, "I assume this is what brought you up here?"

"You assume right," I say, the anger still lingering in my voice. After I calm down I ask, "May I ask why you're up here, Districts 7's usually on the seventh floor if I'm not mistaken?"

He's leaning against the railing now too, "You're correct," he then sighs, "my mentor thinks I'm too hot headed and suicidal."

I nod, there's a sudden gust of wind, it blows my hair about, I should have tied it back I think. I shake a little at the chilly are touching my cold skin.

"I should have known," we both turn around to see Johanna standing there with a smirk on her face, "Trying to win over the enemy are we? Don't bother, she's way out of your league Jack."


	9. Chapter 9: Pushing Buttons

**Author's Note: O.K. so as always, want to thank; Dancing-Soul, decodeme312, and bbymojo for the great reviews. And again yes, I do not own, nor claim to own, the rights to the song; Mean by Taylor Swift, (as far as I know all rights belong to her)**

**And sorry that most of this chapter is just dialogue. You could say it's more of a Alanna/ Finnick relationship builder.**

**So, yeah, I admit this probably not one of the most exciting chapters though hehe. ****Hope you guys like it anyways.**

**(yeah, and still editing some typos so sorry if guys catch any.)**

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**Chapter 9: Pushing Buttons**

**Mean: by Taylor Swift**

_You, with your words like knives and swords and weapons that ya use against me._

_You, have knocked me off my feet again, got me feelin' like I'm nothing._

_You, with your voice like nails on a chock-board callin' me out when I'm wounded. _

_You, can take me down with just one single blow._

_You, are pointing out my flaws again as if I don't already them__._

_I bet you got pushed around, somebody made you cold._

* * *

"You found them?" I hear his voice down the hall, Odair's standing in the doorway.

She rolls her eyes, "What do you think pretty boy," and then punches him in the arm, "your girl better not have been trying to seduce my cousin."

I clench my fits, a low growl emits from the back of my throat, I am sick and tired of people treating me like that. Like I'm nothing more than a worthless tramp!

"I'll be sure to talk to her Jo," is all he says. Then he looks over at me, and me standing there my arms crossed glowering at him with such intensity I hope he dies. "Dinner's getting cold you know, are you coming or what?"

I grudgingly stomp over to him not loosing my sour mood for a second.

As the elevator stops at the 7th floor to let them out I wave good-bye to Jack and we say we'll see each other in the morning. It's a long silent ride down to our floor. Odair has made several attempts to talk but I curtly brush him off.

When we get there I abruptly take my plate and leave for my room, slamming the door shut for a second time today.

But of course he just has to stop it before it can slam shut. He stands there leaning against the door-way the only light, coming from the hall illuminates his shadow, making him look even taller. I swear he looks almost as angry as me. He's stands there purposefully blocking my only exit in case I try to leave.

"What is the matter with you!" he shouts at me.

"You want that alphabetically or in order of agitation," I say, getting up and striding over to the window which somehow seems to have been put back together. The moonlight is bouncing off my face.

I can hear him huff behind me and the door shuts, probably so he can yell at me in privet, "Honestly Alanna you are the most frustrating tribute ever!"

I'm shocked this is the first time he's ever use my name, he must really be angry.

"Oh really," I say, my voice dripping in bitter sarcasm, "I would never have guessed."

I guess I must have pressed a button or hit a nerve because next thing I know I pinned to the wall or rather window, "What the heck _is_ your problem you've been goin' off like a loose cannon at everything I say!"

His breath is hitting my face and it's hot, like his temper. I try to shove him off but it doesn't work.

"Well maybe if you didn't act like such a jerk I wouldn't be so angry!"

I see that dark cruel smirk on his face again as he leans in, "Hate to break it to you sweet-heart but I'm not called Panem's bad-boy for nothing. You're stuck with me so live with it."

And then he backs off I don't know why but I'm glad he does.

"Oh I'm the loose cannon am I?" I mutter, plopping down on the bed crossing my arms.

Then he glares at me and starts leave.

"Brat," I mutter loud enough for him to hear.

"What?" he stops and growls at me.

"You are!" I smirk, "you hear something you don't like so you stalk away. Real mature!"

In the flash of a second he on me, pulls me off the bed and I'm pinned to the wall again, "Shut it, you don't know what my life's like, you have no clue." His eyes are cold and his harsh words are like venom spilling from his mouth.

I can't help but feel somewhat scared by our situation, if he gets any angrier I swear he could kill me.

Before I can get a word in he put his finger on my lips shushing me, "And let me guess, you've got some pathetic back story of a sad little sailor's daughter who hopes to win the games cause her family needs the money, well here's a wake up call for you; the 'nice good girls' are _always_ the first to go at the blood-bath!"

Somehow I get enough strength to push him off me, "My life's far from being that perfect Odair!" And now I'm shoving him back. 'But you wouldn't about that would you! Oh no, my mistake. It must be so hard to be the hottest guy in Panem and have girls throw themselves at you! And getting whatever your little heart desires when ever you want? Yeah that is tough my mistake!"

I pick up the knife on my plate and throw at the wall, "You know what go! I'm sick and tired of you messin' with my mind anyway." I sink to the floor picking at the carpet, "besides her highness is probably waitin' out there for you, better not keep her waiting."

Then I realize, oh no! I said that out loud.

"So that's what this is all about," he says, with that stupid smug smirk then bends down in front of me, "Seashell if you were that jealous you could have just said somethin'"

"I am _not_ jealous!" I hiss through clench teeth, I just know my cheeks are burning up.

He rolls his eyes, "Oh sure you're not," and then he has his arm around me, whispering into my ear, "don't worry, I won't tell anyone you're in love with me, it can be our little _secret."_

"For the hundredth time I am _not_ in love with you!" I shriek whisper, glaring into those cocky green eyes that somehow seem to glow in the dark.

He's leaning in now, his lips dangerously close to mine as he says, "We'll see about that."

Then he winks and gets up heading to the door and turns on the light, "See you in the morning Seashell."

I roll my eyes; that guy can sure push my buttons sometimes.


	10. Chapter 10: Could Have Been Friends

**Author's Note: As always (and I think we know the drill by now...) want to thank: bbymojo, Peace Love Hunger games, and Dancing-Souls for the reviews :)**

**in response to reviews: **

**Yeah... let's just say both Alanna & Finnick should both be held responsible for that little fight in chapter 9. Hehe. And yeah it may be she was in denial (though she would never in a million years admit it...)**

**Yeah, two equally stubborn people (AKA Finnick and Alanna) do not mix well together... **

** Well, we definitely get to see more of Jack in this chapter, and the boy from 2.**

**And yeah still editing, but hope you guys like it.**

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**Chapter 10: Could Have Been Friends**

We step off the elevator, at least my outfit is a slight bit more modest; I'm dressed in a one shouldered, electric blue top, black short (eye rolls) again, and knee-high white boots. I notice the other tributes however, are dressed in exactly the same as attire as yesterday. My, oh so wonderful stylist, must be trying to pass me off as a fashion snob I guess.

We part ways immediately (Riptide and I) after getting off, I head over to the axes and try my hand at them, unfortunately I stink.

Quick as lightning one flashes by the side of my head lodging into the cutout dummy.

Of course it's Jack, he's standing there in the District 7 green T-shirt and black pants. I forcefully put on a smirk hating the person I am force to become in public, "Showing off are we?"

He fake smirks back, "Not even. Why, are you intimidated 4?"

And then we both break into laughter, "Oh sure I'm quaking with fear," I say sarcastically, punching him in the arm.

I stare back at the dummy, the axe embedded perfectly in the center and frown.

"You know, you can't be good at everything Alanna," He says, obviously guessing what I'm not saying.

I shrug picking up a smaller one, it at least hits something this time. "I can sure try though."

He smiles at me warmly, "That you can."

my eyes wander around not looking in any specific direction.

"So are we going to stand around here starin' at nothin' all day or do you wanna check out the other stations?"

I'm pulled out of my daze and quickly nod, "Sure, but we're steering clear of the rock climbing."

He puts an arm around my shoulders, pushing me towards the climbing wall, "Oh come on you're great at climbing."

I dig my heels in the ground and shrug him off, "That's just it, wouldn't want intimidate the other tributes."

He shakes his head and smiles, "I think it's too late for that."

I sigh, because sadly he's right.

We avoid climbing anyway and spend most of the time in camouflage, I try painting him into a tree, and I think I did fairly well, next it's my turn and I lay down as he attempts to paint me into the snow. I involuntarily jerk away at first as the cool wet paint touches my cheeks. Some of the paint drips onto my lips and I disgustingly spit it out right in his face. Opps…

"Sorry," I mutter.

He shrugs, "Doesn't matter, I'm not exactly the best artist." Truth be told, neither of us are, that's more District 8 forte.

After that we head over to the rope and traps sector, and I gladly show Jack how to make a few creative knots.

It takes him a couple tries, unknotting the tangled mess and retying before he gets the hang of it. But he does.

We get lost in time and soon it's Lunch break, it's odd how fast time is going today compared to yesterday.

We pick up lunch at the buffet table and grab our trays sitting down on one of the metal bench tables ands surprise, surprise the Capitol seal has been painted in the center of the table in gold.

We talk back and forth between mouthful and one time he's make a joke so ridiculous I spit the food right out of my mouth laughing so hard I clutch my stomach in pain.

"So you're blowin' us off to hang with 7 are you 4?" 2's voice booms beside my ear like a drilling drum, his black hair makes him look even more sinister. And with a name like Victor well let's just say 'the odds are ever in his favor'.

Oh great big confrontation, just what I need. Suddenly I have lost my appetite.

"I don't recall ever saying yes in the first place, so I can't have blown you off if I never agreed could I?"

He's angry, real angry, "I'd watch it if I were you 4, you're first on my list." He looks us over, "you and your little friend!"

I keep a strong angry glare on my face till he's gone then turn to Jack, "Don't worry 'bout him he's just big bully with empty threats."

That got a smile out of him, "Well, knowin' you you'll have him on his hands and knees beggin' for mercy."

I can't help but smile to, "Ya got that right," I say, tossing one of the strawberries in my mouth.

"No one touches her except me she's my kill got that!" Victor is snapping at them, at the last part he glares at me raising his voice to make it clear he's talking about me.

I watch mildly as Riptide and he go back and forth, "Not happening 2, that's my final payback, for every stinkin' time she's embarrassed me."

I see the knife gripped in his hand and imagine my blood dripping from it, landing in a red puddle staining the golden Capitol emblem, Ew…

I suddenly have forgotten how to breathe. And hear apparently, because next thing I know, Jack is on his feet, "You even try to go there and I'll slit both of your throats!"

I'm socked this sudden outburst wondering what they could have said to get him wound up like this.

"Oh does 4 over there need a guard doggy to fight her battles for her?" Victor mocks.

And now I'm glaring but still keeping that smirk I say, "That's pretty big talk for a guy who's brain's only as big as his fists!" With that I dump the remainder of my food down the trash shoot and Jack does the same.

I plop down on the bench just staring at nothing in particular, "Thanks," I say suddenly, "I mean about back there… you didn't have to stick up you know."

He sighs shaking his head and sitting down, "No one deserves to be talked about like that."

I can still hear the laughter at the careers' table from hear," What were they sayin'"

He just gets up and stands with his back to me, "you… don't need to know."

Seeing where this is leading I drop the matter. _Yeah I probably don't._

The bell rings at the end of the day and we're released, walking towards the elevator Jack lays hand on my arm stopping me in my racks.

"Look, I know you don't want to ally with anyone,"

I have said this, all day actually.

"But I think we'd stand a better chance if work together."

And then what? It gets down to the two of us and he kills me? Not that I'm overly confident in making it that far to begin with. But I can- no will not kill anyone if I can help it, this I have failed to tell him. What good of ally would I be? I surprise even myself by answering, "O.K.," did that really come out of my mouth?

Jack stares at me for endless seconds as if I've gone crazy.

The door to the elevator opens with a ding and I roll my eyes heading for it, "What shark got your tongue or something?"

"Not at all," he smirks, "more like a 5ft brown-haired stingray with 100 watt voltage."

The door slides shut.

I sock him in the arm playfully, "Oh yes, says the double edged axe-head, and that's 5'1" by the way."

Yet I'm still the smallest tribute this year, perhaps not the youngest, but it seems everyone is 5'9" or over.

We glance at each other and both start laughing. I can't help but think if things had been different, (if we weren't in the Hunger Games about to go to our deaths) that Jack and I could have made good friends, that is if he lived in 4.

The ride up goes quickly first dispensing 1, and 2 of course. The careers nod to each other and I catch something about 'tonight' whatever that's about.

The elevator stops at 4 I briefly wave bye to Jack as I get off.

As soon as the door shuts behind us I hear Riptide chuckle behind me, "You actually think budding up with 7's gonna save your sorry hide Princess?"

I glare at him intensely, "I don't need saving!"

And just then our team chooses to step into the scene, Mags and Finnick ask how training went, I shrug. Two death threats within two hours I guess you could say I've had a successful day.

Riptide brushes past me on the way to his room, "See you in the arena Princess, better hope your running's as fast as your knot tying."

_I hate him!_

The rest of us go sit on the couch in the living room, Finnick cocks his head towards me and asks, "So, what aren't you telling me?"

What is he, a mind reader!?

Before I get a chance to answer the TV comes on, a picture flashes on screen of Victor and I arguing,

The title reading, Ocean and Stone Collide.

_Oh great_! I skink lower into the couch as the news progresses.

"The Careers traditionally form an alliance every year, this usually consists of Districts 1, 2, and 4 no surprise there. However this year promises to be a little different. What do we mean? Well stay tuned to tonight's show and find out.

I try to excuse myself from the room but Finnick traps my arm and shoves me back onto the sofa.

This night just keeps getting better!

Reluctantly I raise my eyes to the screen as the newscaster goes on to talk about the supposed rivalry between me and 2 stating that what appears to be friendly rivalry may turn into the biggest climax of the games ever.

"Apparent though, it seems District 4 male has chosen a Career alliance over District partnership, where will this lead? Stay tuned for this year's 70th Hunger Games to find out!"

I roll my eyes, _Yeah, as if we have a choice!_

The TV screen goes blank, Finnick shakes his head and smirks, "Well, you do know how to make a mess of things don't you?"

I thought he'd be angry that I refused to join the Careers. Not to mention that I also practically told off the biggest threat in the Games publically.

I just shrug, "Yep that's me, just call me Hurricane Girl."

Mags gives me a smile, "I'm sure you'll be fine dear," then she shakes her head, "I need to knock some sense into that boy."

I just wave my hand dismissing her, "Don't both. No offence, but even if you could, I wouldn't ally with him. He'd slit my throat in my sleep within a second."

I get off the couch, excuse myself from the room, I need something to do other than sitting here.

"Do be a dear and tell the kitchen to make a cup of tea while you're up?" Mags asks and I nod.

"Don't think you're off the hook Seashell!" Finnick shouts behind my back.

_Yeah yeah,_ I wave him off.


	11. Chapter 11: Sleepless Night

**Author's Note: So as usual, thanks to: Dancing-Souls, and Alice Wiliams for the reviews. And also thanks to all you guys who have this story on Favorites and Alerts.**

**Oh, and also: all updates will be on Fridays, Saturdays, and by the latest; Sundays.**

**And here's an idea, if this story can get at least 30 reviews I'll have a character Q&A in the next Author's note. Just send in your questions (either by review or PM) and they will be answered directly by the characters themselves!**

**Note on this chapter; let's just say the jealousy role gets reversed in this chapter...**

** Also a small Alanna Finnick moment too.**

**Anyways Still editing some things, but please feel absolutely free to review and tell me what you guys think :)**

**Oh and yeah; I do not, nor claim to own the rights to the song Innocent, as far as I know all rights belong to Taylor Swift.**

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**Chapter 11: Sleepless Night**

**Innocent by: Taylor Swift**

_Did some things you can't speak of_

_But at night you live it all again_

* * *

I quietly slip in through kitchen door to see Cair's back to me, rinsing dishes.

I shake my head closing the door, he should have to do all this himself.

"Need any help?" I ask. He shakes his head.

Well, I tried.

I ask him for the kettle and I place it on the stove myself, he's got enough to handle as it is.

Placing the tea-bag in the boiling water I see him placing the dishes away in the cupboard.

"You're killing me here you know," I say, and he faces me.

"I have got absolutely nothing to do I'll die of boredom if I don't something."

He laughs a little and hands me the washrag and plate. I accidentally splash water on him while rinsing the dishes and Cair splashes me back. Things escalate and it quickly turns into an all out battle. Until both of us are lying on the floor sopping wet.

I laugh sitting up, "Just like old times," I say. And I hear him chuckle in agreement.

Having nothing else to do I find myself helping him set the table and laying out dinner.

Wiping my hands on my semi-dry pants I sigh, finally done.

Cair reaches out and ruffles my hair the way he use to when we were kids. I roll my eyes and punch in the arm.

"Gee that's the thanks I get for helping? Remind me never to help you out again," I say jokingly.

_Tell everyone dinner's ready?_

I raise my hand with the slip paper in salute, "Ay, ay Sir!"

I walk down the hall knocking on the doors letting everyone know, purposefully avoiding Riptide's room.

"Dinner ready!" I shout, knocking on Odair's door turning around on my heels to go when he opens the door.

"You do know that's the Avoxes' job right?" he says, walking beside me. I guess he decided to follow.

I shrug, "I know, just thought I'd help out a bit."

As we near the dining room door he grabs my arm stopping me, "Stay away from him Seashell, he's no good he'll just get you into trouble."

I yank my arm away glaring straight at his sea-green eyes, "You have no right to go saying that! You don't even know C- him." I correct myself before slipping up with his name.

Odair shakes his head, "I know what he's done and that's enough. Stay away from him, and that's an order."

Anger boils up inside of me, I stomp off without Odair, making a point of showing how infuriated I am at him! I shove open the door, and getting even with him, I go over and whisper in Cair's ear. _See how he likes that!_ I smirk to myself.

And to my ever growing luck, he doesn't.

I look out of the corner of my eye to see Odair glaring at us, his face red hot with anger. But he doesn't say anything, just sits down at far end of table, far away from my chair.

To say the atmosphere during dinner was tense ought to be enough explanation itself. No one spoke much, except Mags, and Stella, and Rip. Well actually everyone save Odair and I were talking.

I didn't mean to be unpleasant but every time Mags tried to get a conversation out of me I curtly answered with one words responses. If I may say at least I was talking though, Finnick just sat there ignoring everyone one, even Stella's excessive attempts at flirting.

Mags even tries to ask him what's wrong but he just stares at his plate.

"Oh, he's just mad that not everyone cows down to his every word as if he's God," I smirk, shoving spaghetti noodles into my mouth with my fork.

For the first time during the meal Finnick raises his head to glare at me, or stare I can't really tell which,

"You want to die in arena it's fine by me Seashell, go on, ignore all my advice. But you better be praying some mentor out there will be sympathetic." he's leaning over the table now, "cause you're getting absolutely nothing from me." And with that he leaves.

Hearing the door slam shut I mentally wince. "Can he do that?" I ask Mags.

She looks at me with sad sympathetic eyes, "I'm afraid so dear, there's no rule saying otherwise."

I look at the wall and hear Riptide smirk, "Oh, poor Princess got herself into a big mess didn't she?"

"Shut up Riptide!" both I and Mags say.

I throw my napkin at him and excuse myself and go to my room.

I peel off my training outfit, letting it fall in a pile a my feet. I slip on the short, thin, silk nightgown hanging in my closet and climb into bed, trying to turn my restless mind off.

After several hours I finally doze off into a sea of nightmares. All of them ending with dying some type of bloody gory death.

_I'm on the ground, my blood seep out around me, staining the green grass red. the ocean below the cliff is raging, crashing upon the shore in stormy waves. The sky above is as dark as black can get it booms furiously. The face of my killer is lit up by the lightning. Riptide leans down, his knife dripping red._

"_What'd I tell you Princess? It's just you and me now, and no ones gonna save you." He chuckles evily._

_I try to push him off me, but am to weak from blood loss my world starts going hazy._

_My heart beats wildly, tears freely fall from my bloodied face. __Is it just me, or do I see Finnick standing there behind him._

"_Oh thank Panem Finnick," I sigh, but he just stands there, "what are you doing? Don't stand there help me! I'm bleeding to death here!"_

_He looks at me with an evil grin. At some point during this whole thing Riptide had vanished._

"_Sorry Seashell, you had your chance." Then he raises the trident in his hand and-_

I wake up with a jolt, my hand goes to my chest subconsciously check to make sure my heart was still in tact. My hands are wet with sweat and my face is burning hot. And the rest of me is frozen like and ice-cube.

Padding over to the bathroom in bare feet, my sticky nightgown clinging to my form I splash cold water on my face. Looking up in mirror I see my face unscarred, no streaks of blood dripping down from my cheeks and forehead.

_It was just a dream, a stupid dream._ I tell myself

unable to sleep any longer, I wander into the kitchen, and find Mags sitting by the counter. I consider going back to bed, not wanting to disturb her.

"Everything alright dear?" she asks, apparently knowing I'm there.

I nod sitting down on a chair, "Fine," I say, visions of the nightmare replaying before my eyes, "just…couldn't sleep."

Mags hands me a mug, "Here, it doesn't make the nightmares go away but it help cushions it."

I take a sip of the brown liquid, it tastes… good, sweet even. whatever it is, it's definitely too rich to be something we'd have in the Districts.

"she always loved it too." I hear her mumble I want to ask who but feel this would be prying.

Tiredness and depression overtake me and I push the mug aside, falling face-first on the table. I am so dead!

"I am so dead in that arena, why couldn't you be my mentor Mags," I mumble through the cloak of hair shielding my face.

She gently push the hair from my face, patting my back, "Oh come now, Finnick's not so bad once you get know him."

I shake my head, "No, he hates me Mags,"

I refrain from saying 'after all he killed me' because seeing as how I'm sitting here alive and well, she might think I've lost it.

"No he doesn't dear, he just… Finnick can just be a bit of a stubborn mule sometimes, but it takes far more than a little fit for that boy to hate anyone."

I look up at her water-y eyed.

"Give him time to cool off you'll see." She says handing me a cookie from the plate on the table.

I nod mutely.

"Here," she says, handing me the plate of cookies, "take these over and apologize."

I'm about object that he started the whole thing, when she hold up her hand, "Yes I know it's probably not you're fault, but Finnick's not one to admit when he's wrong. If you want him to cooperate you just have to play along."

I sigh, hopping off the hair and grabbing the plate cookies shoving one into my mouth.

Walking down the long hallway I realize, this might not be such a good thing. Do I really want to stand face to with the guy who killed me? Granted it was just a dream, but still…

I pop another cookie into my mouth letting the chocolate chips melt on my tongue relaxing me a little. When I get to the door I notice I had devoured all but one cookie.

Taking a deep breath I knock on his door.

It's been several minutes and I'm beginning to think he's ignoring me till the door opens, his glowing green eyes looking down into my brown, he has his arms crossed over his chest giving me an irritated weird look.

I hold up my hand in defense, "Before you say anything, I came to say… sorry o.k. Here," I say, handing him the plate with the cookie.

I watch him tensely as he picks up the cookie.

"I'll consider it," Finnick says eyeing me, and then opens the door for me to come in, I hesitate but trying to take a step in mending things I go in.

"Chocolate chip?" he asks, meaning the cookie.

I nod. Looking for somewhere to sit but not really seeing anywhere except his unmade bed, the sheets tossed this way and that. And I thought I was a restless sleeper.

I watch him lick his lips after swallowing,

He looks in my direction and winks, "Get five more of these and you're forgiven."

I stare at him in wonder, "Seriously, food? That's all it takes with you?"

I watch him plop down on the bed, "well, that and…" he raises his eyebrows at me suggestively.

I rolled my eyes, "Never gonna happen!" I say crossing my arms.

I watch him lay back on the bed, "I'll just have stick with the cookies then."

I nod.

"actually now that I think about it, make that 15 instead of 5,"

"15!" I spit out, there's no way even _he_ can eat that many at a time. But reluctantly I agree.

I notice he's looking me up and down again, the way he did on the train, I find myself wishing I had put a robe on before I left. The thin silk of my nightgown clinging to me like it was plastered on, my hair must be in a big mess. I probably look like a wreck.

To my relief all he says is, "What happened to you?"

I shrug, "Had a bad dream."

He moves over and pats the space next to him on the bed, "Want to talk about it?"

"Not really," I say, but sit down anyway.

I stare down at the floor then up at the ticking clock on the wall 1:58 there's now way I'm getting any sleep tonight is there?

"I can't think of night that hasn't been plagued with one nightmare or another." Why did I just admit that? I don't know, or care, I'm tired.

"Me neither," I hear him sigh, I look up at him and just now notice his ruffled hair, those tired eyes. The sheets that lay in a mess on the bed, had he been having a nightmare?

I yawn and loosing my balance fall back on him my head resting on his shoulder, "Sorry I pissed you off early," I say with another yawn.

He shakes his head, "Don't think about it."

I nod weakly before falling asleep.


	12. Chapter 12: Capitol Lights

**Author's Note; Well want to give a big thanks to whoever submitted this story in one of those Community things :) and thanks to Dancing-Souls for the review.**

**Wow I didn't realise this chapter was this long! WP said it was 22 pages!**

**Anyways, this is definitely a big Alanna/Finnick chapter So excited to finally post this one, it's one of my favorites. (hopefully it's not too mushy and cliché)**

**Well hope you guys like it, and thanks for all the reviews so far guys. :)**

**Oh and I do not nor claim to own the rights to the song; Sparks Fly by; Talor Swift, as far as I know the rights belong to her k?**

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**Chapter 12: Capitol Lights**

_**Sparks fly by: Taylor Swift**_

_And you stood there in front of me _

_Just close enough to touch,_

_Close enough to hope you couldn't see what I was thinkin' of._

_Drop every thing now, meet me in the poarin' rain,_

_Kiss me on the sidewalk and take away the pain._

_Cause I'm seein' sparks fly whenever you smile,_

_Hit me with those green eyes, baby as the lights go down_

_Give me somethin' that will haunt me when you're not around_

_Cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile._

* * *

"This is all your fault!"

I roll my eyes storming off as usual, "How is this my fault!?" I snap back at Riptide as the elevator door closes with a ding.

All the tributes had been sent home early after an accidental fire grew out of control and climbed up the power line on cross bars eating up the ceiling supports. The alarm went off ordering everyone to evacuate the premises immediately.

And just to be clear, I had nothing to do with the fire. So Riptide is accusing me falsely once again just 'cause he can.

"O.K what's going on," I look back to see Finnick standing there with the rest of our team. No doubt they got the notice about the evac too.

"He's says the fire was my fault!"

"The fire was all her fault!" we both shout at the same time, sounding like quarrelling children.

I sigh plopping down on the sofa, and just now notice how nicely Finnick dressed.

"Where are you going?" I ask curiously, as he slings a jacket over his shoulder.

He gives me a look with a raised eyebrow,"Let me think," he says in a mocking tone, "it's Friday night, all the big victors are out partying, you tell me."

I groan, throwing a pillow at him from the couch, "Yeah, yeah, no need for the sarcasm, sheesh!"

We both turn as Mags gives a cough, "Well, why don't you take them with you Finnick? We can't have these two moping about while you have all the fun."

Riptide and Finnick seem to agree, but I wave the suggestion away immediately, no way do I want to tag along with Finnick for a whole night, I'd rather take a nap. (which is something I _never_ do.)

"You know what, I think I'm getting a cold," I cough for emphasis, "maybe I should stay home."

But it doesn't work, "All the more reason then," Mags says, "I can't have you get getting me sick at my old age, I'd die of pneumonia."

So much for that idea.

"Come on Seashell it'll be fun," Finnick tries to persuade me.

"Oh sure, getting stared at by thousands of strangers while you flirt with some helpless girl, sure fun." I say rolling my eyes.

I don't know how it happened, but I here I am in my room, getting ready for possibly _the_ worst night of my life. Sighing, I go over to the closet, press the party attire button, and groan seeing the only dress available; A short (and I mean _short_) dark blue, strapless dress. The blues shade from electric neon, to dark and stormy at the hem. Note to self, have a serious talk with my stylist (if I don't kill him first.)

I slip into the black heel ankle boots, which have a purposely designed tear running down the middle revealing peeks of skin. I grab a chain-mail necklace from the automatic accessory display, trying to make the outfit look a little more me-ish.

After letting the 'Automatic Hair Styler' fix my hair, I grab a faux-leather jacket and check the mirror.

I look alright I guess, I am still not use to seeing my face with all this make-up on.

Hitting the lights, I slam the door shut and walk back towards the living room where everyone is waiting.

The minuet I enter I see those piercing green eyes of his on me wide-eyed and staring.

I watch him get up and open the door holding his hand out to me, "Ready to go Seashell."

I really want to say 'no', but that smile of his is just so hypnotizing.

Just then I hear a low whistle, "Hey tramp," Riptide says coming up behind me.

I roll my eyes, "Does he really have to come," I almost whine to Finnick.

Of course the answer was yes.

I can't deny that I didn't have my face practically glued to window the whole ride there. All those lights! I've never seen anything so bright and shinny before in my life! The city was so bright you couldn't see the moon or the stars.

I pull away from the window and lean back in my seat, taking a look at Finnick who sat beside me in the backseat of the limo. "So where are we going exactly?"

He just shrugs and smirks, "You'll see."

I get a good look outside as the limo pulls up in front of some big fancy mansion with a court yard, and a sparkling waterfall that lit up by millions of shining lights. There's a red carpet laid out on the steps leading up to the enormous double doors, and did I mention there's a big giant golden chandelier handing in the doorway.

I didn't notice that everyone's gotten out of the car except me, I look up to see Finnick holding the door open smirking at me, "Are you going to get out anytime soon, or were you planning at staring me all night."

I roll my eyes and get out, straightening my rumpled dress and look ahead at the daunting sight, "So, where are we exactly?"

"Auriga Collis, she always throws biggest parties every year for the games. Her family has a very high position in the Capitol, her father is one of the Game Makers, " Finnick says as we're walking up the steps.

"So in other words, I should play nice so I don't get my head chopped off," I whisper in his ear as we get closer to the usher. Oh, I forgot to mention that there's a velvet rope barring people's entrance.

He shrugs, "In a blunt way of putting it."

Once we're inside I'm in for another shock, (and I don't mean how every eye in the room was on us as we made our grand entrance.) Everything is so… I don't even have a word for it. The lights, music, the food, richly dressed people. I've never seen so many people in my whole life!

"I'll be back in a little bit, just stay here," Finnick says, "and, don't try to cause any trouble."

I glower at him, "What am I, a dog?"

But he's gone before I even finish speaking. I have no idea where he's gone, he disappeared just like that into the crowd.

Great now what am I going to do? My eyes dart to one of the buffet tables, I guess I might as well get something to snack on, though I'm not feeling very hungry. It's funny, I haven't had any apatite since the day I was reaped. I wonder if this is something I should worry about, but then again there probably won't be mounds of food in the arena so maybe the lack of hunger might help.

"Hey Stingray, didn't think I'd see you around."

I turn around to see Johanna Mason sanding there in a dark green party dress smirking at me.

"You probably wouldn't if Odair hadn't dragged me here against my free will," I say joking and crossing my arms.

She just smirks at me, "Honey, there's no such thing as free will once you've been reaped for the Hunger Games."

Not in Panem either, I want to say but with all these capitolites I'd be smart to keep my mouth shut for once. So I just smirk, picking up an oddly colored potato chip. I spit it out of my mouth the second it hits my tongue, so disgusting it taste like- like… blood!

Gross! Wiping my mouth on a napkin and spitting out the rest of the vile stuff, I reach for one of the little clear cups that look like water. I need something to wash that awful taste!

"I wouldn't drink that if I were you," Joanna says.

I look from the cup in my hand back to her,"Why not?"

But all she does is point to the bathroom, a loud wretching noise.

Oh, that's why. I carefully place the cup down, resisting the urge to jump back, as if it's going to bite me. "So, where's Jack, he didn't come with you did he?" I ask, my eyes darting around the room.

"Nope, Axe-head prefered to stay home and bore himself to sleep," she smirk.

I almost agree with him, I think to myself.

I see Joanna look off to the side, as if thinking about something. "Well I have mingling to do, nice chatting with you Stingray," before leaving she adds, "Best of luck. And," she smirks, "_'May the odds be ever in your fav_or.'"

"Right," I say, trying hard not burst out laughing at sarcastic joke.

It's a bit of a joke between the districts, because the odds are anything but in your favor if you've been reaped.

I wonder how long we've been here for, I think to myself, I've been standing here for what seems like ages with nothing to do. I take a look at everyone else around me, they're all either talking, eat, puking in the bathroom, or dancing.

I could go find Finnick, but he's probably busy doing one of the three. Not that I want to waste my time hanging around him anyways. I look at the door, if I just ditch would anyone even notice? Maybe I could get a cab to drive me back. How long would it take before Finnick even realized I was gone? Would he even care? I glance over in his direction to see him busily flirting with three neon colored capitol girls.

That all but confirmed my decision. As I make my way towards the door I feel someone watching me, my eyes flitter to side quickly. I see I have caught the attention of one guy standing by the punch bowl; he's tall, he could possibly be a little older than Finnick maybe, with the same blond hair only his is much lighter, and he has pale ice blue eyes which he uses to stare at me with, eyeing me questioningly. I subconsciously duck my head down averting his attention. _Just ignore me I'm no one,not worth your time either_. Hoping he gets it.

Unfortunately the odds (as always,) are _not_ in my favor.

I am just about out the door when a smooth silky voice calls after me. "Where are you going Cupcake. Weren't planning on ditch the party of the year were you?"

Automatically putting on my act, I respond with a cocky/ flirty ring to my voice, "Who me? I wouldn't dream of it, I just couldn't help but admire this beautiful sparkling fountain!"

I watch as he steps closer, a mildly amused expression is plastered on my face. Something in his eyes startles me, the way he's looking at me, I don't like it.

"Not as bright as you," he purrs, "and believe me, I've seen tons of sparkling things." his fingers catch the edge of my jacket, running the collar through them.

I don't know why but something about this guy unnerves me, and not in a good way.

"You know what, why don't we ditch this party, just you and me beautiful."

O.K this guy is starting scare me!

"There you are Seashell!" my head snaps around to see (thankfully) Finnick coming to my rescue,

"I thought you said you'd save me a dance?" he says with a mock sad expression and winks.

What? No I didn't. I glance at him, but he shoots me a 'shut up and play along' look.

There's a slight shifts in his eyes as he glares down at 'Creepy guy' as I have decided to name him.

Finnick rests his hands on my shoulders as he continues to glare at him in an almost threatening way, "Gloss," he notes in a cool voice.

What a weird name I think, must be from 1.

"Nice to see you too Odair," he smirks back.

He directs his attention to me, looking between the two of us, "I see, so you must be Odair's girl, the Sea Goddess right?" _I am nobody's!_ But I try my best to hide my glare. "I'd root for you to win, _if_ I didn't have my own tributes."

Gloss smirks at Finnick, "See you around Odair."

He then flashes a smile at me walks off. Those teeth are way too white to be considered normal I think as I feel Finnick slightly pushing me back inside. He leans towards my ear and whispers hard, "I leave you alone for two minutes and you already get yourself into trouble."

I pull away from his grip and smirk, "More like twenty minutes, and who was that creep anyway?" I say the last bit in a hushed tone.

I watch as he sighs, "The 63rd Games victor from 1, and he's nothing but trouble so stay away from him."

I glance at Finnick and playfully shove him in the arm, "Oh, you mean like you?"

He smirks back and whispers in my ear, "Exactly." Then pulls away, "Now are you going to dance with me or not?"

I really want to say no, but when that smirk of his has been replaced by an almost sweet smile that you rarely get to see, proving that maybe Odair is actually human. Plus I can't help but see the way those green eyes shine when he looks at me like that. I keep staring at that outstretched hand.

Looking back up I sigh, "Oh, alright, but just one!" I warn as he already swipes me into his arms.

As we go to the floor everyone seems to clear out of the way, great even more attention I don't need.

The lights begin to dim as a slow song plays, and Finnick puts his hand on my waist.

"You tricked me," I scoff at him. He just had to wait for a slow song, to ask me to dance.

"Nope," he says, shaking that dirty-blond golden head of his, "just pure luck I guess."

I roll my eyes, putting my hands on his shoulders as we slowly dance back and forth. Back and forth in a rhythmic movement to the music, which almost reminds me of the way the waves crash on the shore.

At some point, and and I not sure when, but either the music has stopped or we have because something feels out of place. I look around me seeing little flittering sparks floating about in the air, am I loosing it?

As we stand there together, I get lost in that trance again, staring into those green eyes of his, which are staring down at me with a soft glow in them, that happy smile on his face. I start to wonder what it would feel like if he just leaned down and kissed me. Wait what!? Who evaded my brain and planted such gross thoughts in my head. I shake my head startled at the idea.

Finnick raises and eyebrow at me, "Something wrong Seashell."

I shake my head and my stomach starts to grumble,"No, just hungry," I laugh, barely hiding the nervous I feel.

I watch him step away over the table and something in me snaps me back to myself. You know that feeling when someone wakes you up by dumping cold water on you? That's how I feel now.

"Well that can be easily fixed," I hear him say, as he picks up a piece of a cake, (or at least, what looks like cake) and puts it back down, nodding his head over at me.

Another sickening noise comes from the bathroom, I shake my head. I think I just lost my appetite, as in permanently!

"I don't feel all that hungry actually," I say, and my stomach groans again in protest, "well, not for anything sweet anyways," I strongly resist the urge to hold my hand over my mouth.

He nods coming back to me, putting a hand on my back "You know what," he says, "This party's getting boring enough anyways let's go."

I stop at the door, "What about Riptide though?"

He stops, thinks for a second, then calls one of the capitol girls over. He points to Riptide's and says,"Hey beautiful,would you mind telling him to take a cab for me?" he ask in an overly sweet voice, and then winks.

"Problem solved." He says back to me.

I roll my eyes as we get in the car, "Honestly, flirting? Is that you answer to everything?"

"Yep," he says slinging his arm over me. I sigh and look out the window. As we drive by one of the restaurants Finnick tells the driver to stop. He opens the door and helps me out.

"What are we doing here?" I say, eyeing the way too fancy building.

"You're hungry right?" he asks, walking forward.

I have to trot to keep up, _stupid heels!_"Well yeah, but I though we were going home."

He stops and looks at me, "What you don't want to be seen with me in public?" he asks in fake astonishment.

He is such a… well I would say drama queen but, "You are such a Drama King, you know that?" I say, smiling as I continue walking.

"Well what can I say," he says messing with my hair,"you rub off on me."

I smirk, then glare realizing what he meant, "So you calling me a Drama Queen!?"

He looks back at me, as he opens the door, "I didn't say anything." And I strut in ahead of him.

Even with my back to him I know there's a smirk on his face as he says, "I was thinkin' it but didn't say it."

Annoyed, I run my fingers throw that golden hair of his tossling it into a mess, with a smirk.

He winked at me, leaning in pressing his side against mine, "You just couldn't resist could you?"

Before I can retort, the waitress comes to greet us, "Hi I'm Chartreuse, I'll be you're waitress this evening, so is it just the two of you?"

He nods but before he can even say 'yes' Chartreuse starts high-piched squealing, "Oh my gosh you're Finnick Odair, what are you doing here!"

He smirks, I roll my eyes, oh great another one of his crazy fan girls. I don't know if she's just now noticing me for the first time or not, but she's glaring at me with pure hatred, the kind of glare that took me years to master. "And who are you his _girlfriend_," she spits out.

"No," both of us say at the same time, but Finnick being Finnick has to adds, "but she so wishes though."

I glare at him and smirk back as she lead us to a table, "In your dreams pretty boy." Did I just give him a nickname?

When the waitress goes off to get our drinks, he leans over the table, "So you do like me? Don't worry it happens to everyone in time, sooner or later. They all fall for the Odair charm."

I sigh and sit back there is not point in arguing with this guy I've learned. The only thing to do is turn the tables back around, "See this is why I can't stand you, you're way too arrogant and cocky for your own good."

"Please," he smirks, "that's why they all _love_ me."

How I wish she'd get here with the drinks faster, that way I can dump his on him.

Soon enough she's back with the soda I order and the ice tea.

And just to make a point Finnick smiles at her, overly thanking her, and she melts right at his feet.

"Oh anything for a handsome victor,"she flirts back and then (thankfully) leaves.

He's looking over at me, with a smile so smug I wish I could wipe it right off those cocky lips. _See?_ The look seems to say.

"Oh whatever," I mumble sipping the fizzy brown liquid.

Later our food arrives and I busy myself with eating so I don't have to remember he's here. But after a while I forget about being mad.

The pasta I ordered tastes so creamy and good, not to mention the garlic bread too.

I take another sip of my drink and pat my lips with the napkin as I watch Finnick dump another sugar cube into his tea.

"Don't you think that's sweet enough now?" I ask curiously, he must have dump like 6 in already.

"Please, nothing can _ever_ be too sweet." He says looking directly at me.

_One of these days Odair I'll get you back, I'll wipe that stupid cocky smirk clean off your face_ I think to myself leaning back.

"Thinking about something?" he asks, noticing my change in behavior.

I smirk, "No how can I when you're just _so_ distracting,"

See two can play at this game. I sit there relishing his confused expression. "Hey, what can I say," then I lean in whispering softly, "you rub off on me." Quoting his words from earlier.

It only take's a second for him to catch on though, he leans back chuckling softly, "Nice try Seashell, but trying to beat the master at his own game?" he shakes his head, "you definitely have a lot to learn."

I sit back raising an eyebrow, "Oh you think so?" I should let this go but I can't, it's just too much fun.

Once dinner's over we leave. Heading for the limo Finnick asks me as he gets in, "So what really happened today?"

He just had to ask.

"I bumped into the District 10 girl who apparently had the bright idea to practice fire-building where I was setting a trap. She tripped and dropped the match on one of the circuit cords and the whole place kind of exploded after that."

I yawn for about the tenth time on the way up in elevator, my head is resting on his shoulder which truthfully I don't remember how it got there. He walks me to my room before saying good-night, which really isn't all that necessary since we all live in the same apartment.

The light in the hallway flickers as we both stand there motionless. Finnick breaks the silence by saying, "So is hanging out with me as horrible as you thought?"

I sigh, looking directly at him,"It kills me to say this but no, I actually did have a good time. Thanks."

His hand reaches up and puts a stray stand of hair behind my ear before whispering, "Anytime Seashell." And just like that he's gone, before I even notice what happened.

Smiling to myself for the first time in ages I close the door, resting my back up against it for several seconds. I toss my jacket on the bed, change into a par of warm fluffy pajamas before jump into the bed and burrowing into the thick, silky sheets. I switch off the lamp, turning on my side and stare at the sparkling lights of the Capitol city outside my window before falling alseep.


	13. Chapter 13: Don't Mess With the Ocean

**Author's Note: Well first off I apologize for the wierd chapter title guys, if you can come up with a good one please let me know.**

** So, thanks to: Dancing-Souls and the Guest review for the reviews :)**

**Gee, did realise this chapter is even longer, 24 pages!**

**Anyways here's the scene you guys have all been asking about, AKA private session with the Game Makers & Scores, (Hope it lives up to your expectations)**

**Yeah as always, please review and tell what you guys think. **

**oh and PS: I do not own nor claim to own the rights to the Hannah Montana song sung by Miley Cyrus.**

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**Chapter 13: Don't Mess With the Ocean**

**I got Nerve by Hannah Montana**

_I know what you're like_

_I know what ya think_

_Not afraid to stare you down untill you're blinkin'_

* * *

"If you don't unlock that door this instant I'll drag Finnick in here and he'll make you come out!" Stella's high-pich chirpy voice threatens me for about the umpteenth time.

"Fine!" I snap, from the other end, sitting on the bathroom floor, the cold tile freezing my bare legs. I don't care I am not coming out!

_Could this day possibly get any worse!_ I think, as water drips from my pink hair to the tile in a little puddle.

I had attempted to take a shower since my hair was getting kind of gross and greasy, but apparently you need a guid book for this stupid thing! For one thing there are too many buttons, and quick word of advice; DO NOT push the green button unless you want pink hair that smells like artificially scented strawberries.

So now you know why I'm sitting here at nine in the morning in a towel on the floor in the bathroom, which might not be the cleanest place to be, but I don't really care right now.

"Finnick!" I hear the mouse whine as she struts out of the room. There's a tripping sound and I'm pretty sure she fell on the carpet, and it seems she broke a heal.

If I were in a better mood I'd laugh, but I'm not.

I hear the door knob rattle but don't get up, "Alanna, will you open the door?" I hear Finnick say.

When I don't answer he sighs. The next thing I know the door is open and he's on the floor kneeling in front of me.

"Just go away!" I snap as he lifts a piece of my pink hair, I violently turn my head to the side slipping my hair away from his fingers.

"Alanna, come on, look at me," he demands.

I shake my head, "No, I look like a strawberry!" I whine, resting my head on my knees.

He puts a hand under my chin and forces me to look up at him, "A very cute strawberry though," he winks, sniffing a strand of hair, "a very sweet one too."

I shriek and laugh as he makes an attempt to lick my hair. I roll my eyes, batting his hand away.

He's now sitting beside me and says, "Well, at least you don't look like a carrot."

I raise my eyebrows at this.

"My first time I ended up with orange skin and green hair, took my prep an hour to fix me back."

I put a hand to my mouth in mock astonishment, "You mean the great 'Finnick Odair' has actually look less than perfect before!?

He leans back playing along, "I know shocking, but yes I actually am human."

Taking on a more serious tone he gets up, holding a hand out to me, "Come on training's in one hour," he then adds with a smirk, "and as much as it would amuse me, I'm not letting you go down there dressed in a towel."

I push myself up off the floor, slapping him upside the head as I strut out of the bathroom. I'm about to grab the clothes off my bed when I see myself in the mirror; my scrubbed red/pinkish skin, the awful neon pink hair. I sniff it for myself and yes I even smell like a strawberry!

I colasps on my bed in defeat, "I am not going to training I'll die of embarrassment!" I yell as he walks into the room staring down at me with amusement.

"If I could endure it looking like a carrot freak, then you can _and will_ too." He said in a 'end of discussion' tone.

I moan, rolling off the bed, saying in a mocking voice, "Yes sir!"

I pick up the shirt to change then… remembering Finnick is still in my room sitting on my bed I say, "Would you mind leaving the room I kind of need to change," I say, slightly exasperated.

He just leans back and smirks, "Na, I think I'll stay."

I roll my eyes, grabbing the shorts and hitting him on the head for the second time this morning and head to the bathroom, "I hate you," I mutter.

"Love you too Seashell," he calls after me as I slam the door shut.

_In, under, over, through, pull, in…_ those are the words I mutter to myself as I work on the stringy piece of rope. It's been officially a week and a half since the fire incident and parts of the training center are still prohibited, apparently the obstacle course is still under water. "In-"

"Hey Stingray!"

I don't have to turn my head around to see who it is, "What's up Axe-head," I say with a smirk.

Jack snatches the rope from my hands, "Thought you weren't showing off your skills?" he says, running his fingers over the knots.

I roll my eyes, "Please anyone with a brain would know fishing is 4's main export it's no big secret." I snatch the rope back, then thinking about it, toss it to the ground. I was bored of making tangled knots anyway.

"So, planned what you're going to do for the Game Makers yet?" he asks.

I brush my hands on my shorts as if the rope was dirty, "Nope, I'll just have to wing it."

"Well good luck with that," he smirks, picking up one of the guns and loads it.

I put hand on his arm, "Do you actually know how to shoot one of those thing?" I ask.

He raises and eyebrow at me and poises it, and bang! The bullet whistles through the air hitting dead center on target.

Jack turns his face in my direction and winks, placing the gun down, "I guess you could say that."

I could not help but inwardly stare at the bull's-eyes. _It's a good thing we're allies,_ I think, a shot like that could kill someone in a second.

I see his eyes flicker off to the side as he says, "Oh gees I really gotta go, I sure hope they have a bathroom around here."

I laugh, "Try the hallway on the left." I say.

He nods, "See you in a minute."

I nod, "K."

Curious, I pick up the gun myself, raising it, my finger on the trigger-

"So, is it true that you and Odair have something going on?"

I jolt in surprise, missing the target completely.

With a groan of frustration I turn to see the girl from 1 sanding there behind me wearing a threatening look, which really looks somewhat amusing on her typical ditzy diva girl face.

I look at the gun acting as if it's more interesting and say, "Maybe, maybe not, what's it to you?"

"Oh," she says in an annoyingly girly-girl voice, "it's nothing really, just thought I'd give you a friendly warning, you know girl to girl. I've heard some things from my mentor about him and," she pretends to look at her perfectly manicured nails, "well you know the District 4 girl from the 65th games, well it turns out she was pregnant and guess who the father was?"

I roll my eyes but feeling inwardly sick, "Oh really, well thanks for letting me know, and word of advice honey, you should take to your own warning."

With that I walk away, careful to make my strides seem stronger than I really feel. I want to find somewhere quiet and hide, but I can't and there are too many people around, I cannot let any possible enemy see me having a mental breakdown.

I shake my head, she must have made that up, trying to get to me or something. I bet Victor put her up to it. _Or she's just jealous you get to have 'The Finnick Odair' as a mentor._ A voice echoes in my head. Yeah that's probably it, that must be.

I mean Finnick by all means is not exactly 'Prince Charming' and yes we've all heard the rumors about him, but I can't honestly think he'd do something that dirty and low.

"Hey, so you ready to do some more training?"Jacks says, coming up beside me, pulling me out of the dark thoughts looming in my prison of a brain.

"Are you alright, you're looking kind of weird." He says, a worried look on his face.

I shrug, "I'm fine, I'm always fine," I say, bumping him in the arm, "unless you're inferring I usually look ugly?"

He laughs, "No, but now that you mention it,you might want to get dirt cleaned off your face."

I roll my eyes and grab some wet dirt from the camouflage sector, dumping it on his hair, "Well there, now we're even."

We keep training, going to different stations as usual. My eyes keep darting back to the obstacle course,_ there's got to be someway to use that, _I think, looking at the flooded tank.

We break for lunch and after that the private sessions begin.

The computerized voice calls tributes in one after another, going on down the line starting with 1 and ending with District 12.

I can't help but feel some what sorry for 12, they almost never win, in fact they're usually lucky if they make it past the bloodbath. I don't know for sure if it's because of their pathetic excuse of a mentor or the fitness and nourishment they seem to lack.

What do they feed those poor kids in 12 anyway? Just watching how they behave at lunch you would think they'd never seen food before in their life. At least I can say 4 is somewhat better off than that, while most of the population in 4 is poor, for the most part we find a way to keep food on the table every day.

I can't help but glance over at them on the bench opposite us. They look so depressed…

Getting up from my seat I walk over to them ignoring the comments from Jack about 'what do I think I'm doing'.

"Hi," I say, holding out my hand, "I'm Alanna, District 4, I just thought I'd wish you guys good luck, you seemed to be doing pretty good with that first-aid stuff maybe you'll out last all of us this year."

They stare back at me in bewilderment not saying a word, so does Jack. Before I can sit back down a voice calls me in.

The metal barred gate rolls down behind me with a loud clang as I face the Game Makers, sitting their chairs yawning their head off and chatting.

Oh this going to be just great. (note sarcasm)

I say my name, when they nod for me to continue I head over to the swords and knives.

Picking up six of the finely sharpened blades, I poise myself in front of the human target, swallowing the bile in my throat as the image of a live human appears in my mind's eye.

It's just a target that's all. I try to tell myself.

Knife after knife, each fly through the air all of them finding their target with precise prosission.

Now what, I think to myself this definitely is not very entertaining, if I can't come up with something else quickly they're sure to fall asleep, and not to mention give me a bad score as well.

I look around the room, my eyes falling back on the obstacle course again, then the railing above… I look over at the supply of rope.

_That just might work,_ I think, as I clutch the knife in my hand.

Rope in hand, I walk over to the tank containing the under water course.

There's yellow tape running across the tanks saying:

"DANGER! DO NOT ENTER WITH OUT AUTHORIZE PERMISSION!" Through the clear glass I can see something swimming in the water, I see a flash of grey but it's gone before I get a chance to see it fully.

Fixing the rope to the tilt of my knife, I fix my gaze on the crossbars lining the ceiling above. I pull my arm back and release the spinning knife over head, it loops around the bar and falls back down in front of me. Making another quick knot I grab hold of the rope, swinging myself over the glass wall and onto the edge, my feet balancing on the rim.

The only platform I notice not under water is at the very far end of the tank. I almost lose my balance as something lunges at me from beneath the murky water, nearly taking me with it. It's now I see the sharp triangular pointed dorsal fin on the top of the creature. My attacker is a shark.

Before the shark can make another attempt at snacking on my toes, I quickly unravel more rope that's slung on my shoulder, I take the knife, one hand on the rope and sever it, retying it to the longer strand and with all my might leap off the ledge sailing over the water, just bearly landing on the platform.

Now what? I look around me, my next mission: eliminate the threat, which in this case happens to be a shark. I pull the rope tight to make sure it will hold then with a sigh I grab on, all those years spent climbing in the rigging better pay off, or I'm dead.

I force myself not to look down as I climb the rope, this would be a whole lot easier if there were actually foot holds to force myself up with. Pull by pull I finally make it up to the cross-bar. Heaving myself onto the cold metal I look down at the speck in the water below, I crawl till I'm facing a good direction then shakily get to my feet. Poise the knife, then trust it at the shark. Slipping down the rope I can see I have hit my mark, it's an awful sigh though, the shark floats at the top of the water lifeless, it's blood draining from the wound my knife inflicted.

I try not to think about it as I slide, but as I'm half way down I feel something odd going on, the rope seems to have grown looser. As I look above me I see the rope starting to wear away. _Oh no!_ Before I even have time to shriek the rope breaks, dumping me into the rigid cold bloody water.

Spitting the vile stuff from my mouth I make a dash for the platform, I'm about to remake my rope when I seeing my knife still embedded in the shark, the only one I had left. I quickly swim over to it, pulling the soiled thing from the carcass.

I land with my feet perfectly poise on the ground pleased with myself, I should be getting a good score now. Ringing my hair out, I look up to see not one of the Game Makers even notices me. Did they even see me! Did I just do all of that for nothing!

Anger like I have never known floods through me!

infuriated I clutch the knife in my belt.

"You may go now District four," an automatic voice says over the speaker, though clearly the Game Makers find their conversations more important than me.

I take my last blade from my belt and hurl it at the emergency fire-sprinklers over their heads.

With my hands casually resting on my hip I smirk cruelly, 'Don't ignore a raging ocean, you'll get a hurricane."

And then I strut right out, not caring if they giving a zero or a twelve.

As the elevator pulls up to our floor with a ding, I dread going inside. Of course we're met by our team as usual except for one person who I notice is missing. "Where's Finnick?" I ask Mags.

She answers somewhat hesitantly, "He's out running an errand, getting sponsors... mentor responsibilities. You'll learn if you're victor."

I nod, somewhat relieved he's gone, even though I don't belive a smidge of what that 1 ditz said, I still think I would have trouble just being in the same room with him after hearing that kind of thing.

"He'll probably be back by the time they start announcing scores, "says Mags, "if not then you'll see him tomorrow."

I take the extra time till the scoring to wander around a bit, trying to relieve some of the building stress. I find myself back in the kitchen, eyeing the knives. I grab three, throwing each into the wall, then collapsing myself on the ground with a sigh, I seem to do that a lot lately.

I don't move until I feel a hand on my shoulder. Cair.

"Sorry," I mutter, "I don't know what came over me I just-" but I am at a lost for words.

I feel him gently pulling me to my feet, then dislodges the knives from the wall setting them in the sink.

I watch as he goes over to the pantry and pulls out some rolls, butters one and places it in my hands, his clasped over mine for a few seconds.

Rolls, my- no our favorite, of course they're not like the one my mother made but they're close, a token of home in a way.

"Thanks," I say in a strained tone, afraid I might cry but not from sadness I don't think, the only thoughts filling my head now are those long endless summer nights spent on the shore watching the sunset, chasing each other till we simply ran out of fuel and fell in the sand. Our parents calling over to us to eat. I remember one time especially, I had dropped my roll in the ocean in a failed attempt to out run 'Cair the Shore Montser', startled because Cair had come up behind me and tackle me to the ground, I had dropped it straight into the salty water. Cair, feeling uncharacteristically bad about the whole thing, gave me his whole roll.

I am not really hungry, but wanting to please him and show him I appreciate his thoughtfulness, I take a big bite out of the bread, letting the butter melt on my tongue before swallowing.

"This whole thing just isn't fair is it?" I say looking up at him, not really expecting an answer, I know I won't get one. But I need someone to blurt my rebellious thoughts to. But it is in my opinion, the whole thing is, Cair a mute slave, the Hunger Games, my father and mother being taken from me just like that at such a young age, the brutality in the districts, the list goes on and on.

"And I've just made a complete mess out of everything," I add out loud. I can't help but think the Game Makers probably aren't too happy with me after that little stunt.

Cair hands me a glass of cool ice water, trying to calm me down.

I take a sip, strawberry flavored. I push the cup aside and bang my head against the wooden table surface, this day just gets better.

"Sorry," I say again, "It's not you it's just, I'm not really in the mood for strawberry anything." I subconsciously touch my hair.

Minutes later I end up spilling everything about the course of the day's events, starting with my shower mishap to my performance for the Game Makers.

I look up with a final breath, "Look, if I do make it out by some sliver of chance, I promise to find some way to free you."

He puts a hand over my mouth to shush me but I gently remove it, "Cair, you're my best friend for Panem's sake it's the least I can do."

He shoots me a panicked look which I get, "Alright, I'll shut up, but you can't stop me Cair. You least of all people should know," I say bumping him in the arm, "when my minds made up there's no stopping this troublemaker." I smirked.

I watch curiously as he pulls something from his pocket, then hands it to me. In my hand is a silver bracelet with a single small seashell charm on it and a pearl. I realize it, it's a the shell I left on our little island. He must have gone back for it, some time ago though obviously.

There's a note attached to it, I quickly unfold the damp paper;

_I didn't know if you had a token for the arena so I was hoping maybe you could take this with you, I found the shell on the same rock, I ment to give to you as present but well as fate would have it… _

My 11th birthday I remember it well, the day I sat on our little island from dawn till dusk, but he never showed. I look back down at the note;

_anyways I'm rambling too much but hope you like it, it's yours either way._

_Cair._

I instantly place the paper down and in one quick moment leap into Cair's arms, hugging him tightly.

"Of course I will." I cry out, the bracelet still firmly gripped in my hand.

Of course someone just has to ruin our happy moment though,"Alanna the scores are starting." I can't tell who's voice it is, not that it matters, no one can see Cair and I together. No one is supposed to socialize with an avox even I know that.

Clasping my bracelet around my wrist, I plop onto the sofa, as the TV turns on. Of course, there's still no sign of Finnick anywhere.

Ceasar Flickerman ( the host of the tributes' interviews) appears on the screen. I see he's decided to dye his hair an odd candy corn color this year, with streak alternating bright yellows and oranges. I have a hard time keeping a straight face throughout the whole thing. He goes through the list of scores starting with District 1 going down to 12.

District 1 get a 9 and 8

Victor's face flashes on the screen and next to his name is a 10

_Great._

The girl from his District, (I think her name is Nightmare or something along those lines) appears on screen with a 9 nine of course.

District 3 both get a 6.

Then us…

"And for District 4," says Ceasar, Riptides' picutre appears on screen "Riptide Sanderblade, a 9."

Oh great everyone gets a good score except for me.

"And for District 4's female, Alanna Birch," I look up as I hear my name called. Here it comes…

I can't hear him, it's like I've gone deaf but I can still the screen well enough to know I've gotten an 8 ½ . Well, that's better than nothing, though I honestly thought I deserved a little better than that. Maybe I should have broke the tank wall too…

District 5 flies by pretty quick, one kid I think his name was Shadow, got a 7, the girl got a 5.

District 6 goes by and then 7.

Jack's face appears._ Please let him get a good score, please let him get a good score._ I chant, as if I'm crossing my fingers.

"For District 7's male, a 9!"

I blink, I knew he was good but a 9! That's extremely good by career standards.

The rest of the scores go by ranging in the 3-4 areas, but when 12 comes up it catches my interest, just hoping out of good sportsmanship that got a better score then last year with their 1s

The boy from 12 gets a 7 and the girl gets a 6.

Their faces fade away and the TV screen goes black. Well that's that.

Later that night I toss and turn only to turn again, I pause hearing a door slam softly. The type of softness that you're hoping no one else hears. So of course it catches my attention.

Flinging off my sheet I slip out of my room and creep down the hall, I can hear hushed voices homing from the living room. As I get closer I determine the voices belong to Mags and Finnick.

I peek around the wall as see him standing beside the couch in the dim light, his back to me. Finnick throws his jacket off and tosses it on the arm of the couch and sits down next to Mags.

"So how did… it go?" she asks.

I can see him shrug, with a strained voice he answers, "No worse than others. At least there are three I know we count on sponsors for sure."

Mags puts a withered hand on his arm, "You don't have to do all this, there are other way-"

Finnick cuts her off, "Either way I still have to do it," he runs his fingers through his hair, "the Capitol just can't get enough their 'Golden Boy'"

I don't think I have ever heard him sound his stressed out before. I'm don't know what this is about, but I have a feeling It's nothing good.

I lean in closer to get a better look.

Mags hands him something and he raises it to his lips.

After moments of silence she asks,"Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

" I'm just trying to get her sponsors, besides, that's the angle you went with for me, and I won," he argues.

"And are you happy you did?" she counters.

"I'm alive," he shrugs, not really wanting to answer.

"And look at the life you're living Finnick, do you really want that for her?" Mags says, "If she does make it you know what will happen don't you?"

I raise my eyebrows, _what will happen?_

"Mags what do you want me to do!" he says in frustration.

"You're the mentor, it's your call to make not mine." She says, then gets up to leave.

"I'll giving you fair warning though Finnick, if she _does_ make it, she'll hate you."

Hate him? I admit at the beginning of this whole thing I couldn't stand him, maybe at times I'll admit I did hate him. But at some point my negativity towards him seems to have faded, and sure he still gets on my last nerves, but what could he do that so horrible I'd _hate_ him?

I quickly, noisesly jerk open a door to hide behind as I hear her coming through the hall.

Silently, I slip back inside my room. I sit on my bed, looking out at the sky, holding up my bracelet to my ear. I can still hear the ocean's call, the slight faint tinkling of bells. Haunting me, calling me home to the sea.

I twist the charm round and round. Well, there's one thing for sure, either way I _will_ be going home, either in a box, or as victor.


	14. Chapter 14: Ballad of a Dove

**Author's Note: O.K. so thanks to; Dancing-Souls, Aliyaahhhh, and Lizzy B for the reviews :)**

**And thanks to Peace Love Hunger games for the previous chapter name ideas as well.**

**O.k., so, short disclaimer; No, I do not own, nor claim to own the rights to the song; 'If I Die Young' by the Perry Band or "What if Died tomorrow" by; About Last Night. **

**Ah well we finally come to the final night before the games, and I've got to say one of the sweetest Alanna/Finnick moments of this story is in this chapter. Some of the walls in their relationship kind of start to fall down.**

**(Oh PS: anyone who wants the playlist for this book can PM me and I'll send it to you :) )**

**Hope you guys like it and as always please review :)**

* * *

**Chapter 14: Ballad of a Dove**

_**What if I died tomorrow:**_

_What if I died tomorrow, would you miss me here_

_What if I cried tomorrow, would you shed your tears_

* * *

_**SNAP!**_ There's a break in my heel as I cash to floor with a loud thud and groan of pain.

Stella's cursing at me snatching the heels from my feet, "These's were my favorite too!" she cries.

I spread my sore feet out on the tile, letting the coolness quench the heat radiating from them, we've been at this all day, walking, sitting, smiling, carry a book on my head. (which as far as I can tell is pointless) And the most productive thing I've done is break six pairs of her precious heels within one hour.

I roll my eyes as she continues to rant, it's times like these I wonder if me being born a girl was some kind of mistake.

She throws the soggy, broken shoes in the trash, (and yes she actually cried so much the shoes are sopping wet, no exaggeration.)

Putting on a strained smile she says, "Alright, let's try that again."

I glare at her like a wild animal as she pulls out another box, "No way I am not doing that again, I swear you're trying to kill me before I even get in the arena." O.k. maybe a bit dramatic, but proves my point.

She stands there that evil smile on her pale paper white face, "That might not be such a bad idea, If only I had a knife to carve that pesty little heart of yours out with and feed it to the dogs."

I'm impressed I didn't think her puny brain was capable of coming up with something so devious.

She wrinkles her nose, "On second thought, your blood would stain my new blouse, and you know how hard it is to wash out blood stains," she chirps in her normal ditzy voice.

" Can we move on!" I say, heaving myself off of the floor.

Hours past by agonizingly low, I think I'd rather be tortured. I smooth down my unrealistically long dress and try to walk again, in 7 inch heels, with 3 books on top of my head, all the while trying to remember to smile as if this isn't a total nightmare, and answer her silly dumb etiquette questions.

At one point I trip again, not breaking the heel but tearing a good deal of my dress. I grabbed the sisors and cut off the torn fabric, yes I can actually feel air on my legs!

By the end of our litter session, my feet are screaming, my back is aching, and my mouth hurts from that stupid smiling and I've got a stupid head ache from those stupid book and stupid- I rambled on for several seconds naming ever possible thing in existence stupid in my current foal mood.

I walk down the hall to the library/study, massaging my aching hand and reach for the door knob with one hand,

"This is completely idiotic I don't have to listen to you, I don' have to listen to anybody!" Riptide shouts as I close the door.

Both Finnick and Riptide's attention turn to me at that moment.

I gester towards the door, "Mini Mouse wants you, good luck you'll need it, if you want to live to see the arena."

As always Riptide glares at me as he leaves, slamming the door hard.

I plop down on a chair, facing Finnick and sigh. He gives me an odd look, shakes his head, "I'm not even going to ask."

"So, what are we doing?" I ask.

I watch as he pops a sugar cube in his mouth from the tray on the side-table, "Interview angles." he says plainly, "we're going with flirty, fierce, and mysterious."

I stink at being flirty, but I try, he tosses question after question at me, each one I must reply to within a split second.

It seems I'm being to mysterious however because at one point he sighs and runs his hands through his hair, "That is not an answer," he says looking back at me, "you can't return his questions with more questions."

I lean back in my chair, "Says the boy who _told_ me to be mysterious."

"Mysterious yes, vague no." he says, popping another cube in his mouth.

Oh will this day ever end?

We move on to fierce which I do well enough when he asks me in a silly Capitol voice 'what about my competitors, District 2 in particular.'

"He's barking up the wrong tree, if he even has half a mind he'll stay clear of me in the arena," I say with a smirk, and a dangerous glint in my eyes.

Lastly he has me try flirty, which according to him, I stink. Like I care what he thinks anyway, besides I have no time to worry about boys when I will be fighting to stay alive tomorrow.

He then asks, "So what do you think of your mentor The Finnick Odair?"

I roll my eyes and punch him in the arm, "He's a conceited brat."

After that's done we meet everyone in the dinning room for lunch, and after that is the 4 hour prep with my team for interviews.

We talk a little, both our mentors asking casually how we did.

I look up when I notice I'm being talked about, I see Finnick looking at me and smiling.

"She did a great job, thanks to me of course." I see he pretends to whisper to Mags, "I think we're going to have to go with another angle though because she can _not_ flirt."

I glare at him.

Our prep team comes to pull us away, I reach for a sugar cube before leaving and look Finnick straight in the eyes and say in an overly sweet voice that makes me sick, "Want a sugar cube, they're sweet," I lean in and whisper in his ear, "though not as sweet as me."

For once the cocky expression on his face fades, his face almost looks like it starts to heat up as he just stares at me.

I smirk and then strut out of the room, Mags laughter echoing down the halls as I go.

I hear Riptide chuckle as we walk down the hallway, "So there is something going on between you and Odair."

I sigh, "I was just having a little fun, live a little."

"Oh I will," he says, as we veer off to our separate rooms, "after I kill you and they crown me victor."

It would be an understatement to say the next couple of hours were torture, I'm surprised I'm still alive.

1 hour spent bathing and soaking in a tub filled with all kind of smelly toxins that supposedly washed out pink hair dye, then next hour was spent plastering my face and body in some type of goop that's suppose to make my skin silky and shiny.

All the while two of the girls babble on about how cute Finnick is while Nyaid and I both roll our eyes at the same time.

"Shut up before I seal your mouth shut with this gunk!"

_ Thank you,_ I silently think.

The next hour is spent on my hair,and make-up. As Nyaid runs a brush through my hair she yanks it real hard as she says into my ear, "You better not kill that District 7 boy, you hear me?" she growls, "or there won't be a victor at all this year if you do make it out."

I glare at her, wondering why she cares in the first place, and say, "We have an alliance. Do you think I'd kill my own ally?!"

She shrugs, "I've seen your tributes do lower things than that before."

Once everything is all done, I'm sparkling clean, smelling like a coconut, with my hair all smooth a shiny, my nails painted, they bring in my stylist.

Before he can say a word I growl at him, "I swear if you put me in one more short dress I'll kill you!"

He just chuckles, shifting the dress bag from one arm to the other, "So your mentor told me."

He puts the bag down, picking up a strand of my hair running it between his fingers, "it's a shame really, pretty girls like you, rearly come along in games," I subconsciously shrink away from him, "you could have used that to your advantage."

"I'd rather win fair and square," I say, not really liking where this is going, not liking being stuck alone with him either. Where is your prep team when you need them!

He hands me the bag and says, "there's the dress, let me know when you're ready." He leaves and I stare the bag for a couple of minutes before unzipping it. It's a dark blue dress I can tell that much, I sigh pull off my robe and slip on the dress.

I walk over to the mirror to see how bad it is

The dress shimmers in the light, the skirt has scaley appearance, while the top half is made out of silk. There's space cut under the top, a strand of crisscrossing shells connects the skirt to the top half of the dress. Well at least it isn't short.

I pull on the fishnet nylons and open the door.

Pieceis is waiting there the minute I get out,"There's my little goddess," he says.

I roll my eyes and groan as he puts the gold necklace around and clips it around my neck. I slip on the sea rainbow pair of blue heals, and clip my bracelet on for good luck.

We meet the others back stage, Finnick is there with Mags and Riptide.

Finnick smiles when he see me and comes over to great us.

He glares at my stylist for a seconds then whispers to me, "How'd everything go?" he says still eying Pieces suspiciously.

I shrug,"Alright I guess," I don't know why but I can't stop shaking, this is odd since I'm usually _never_ nervous.

"You'll do fine," he says, fixing my necklace which somehow got twisted around backwards, "just remember; flirt and smile."

I roll my eye but nod anyway, I see his eyes catch a glimpse of the bracelet.

"Where did you get that?" he asks twirling it around curiously.

I can't say Cair gave it to me because I really don't want to reopen that can of worms again.

"A friend back home." I said vaguely.

Thankfully before I have chance to elaborate my name is called. I completely miss Riptide's interview though I can pretty much guess how it went; boasting how good he is, threats to kill me, and… who knows what else.

"And now I have the pleasure of introducing the girl of the sea District 4's beautiful Sea goddess; Alanna Birch," I hear Ceasar's voice booming to the audience, my cue that I should enter.

I shake myself getting rid of the 'non' existant nerves, and make my way up the stage.

He takes my hand and welcomes me on stage, "Well Alanna it's so nice to finally meet you."

I smile inwardly smirking, _I hate capitol people. _

"Thank you, it's a pleasure to meet you too." I say in the tone we'd practiced earlier, directing my gaze mostly at the audience. I so hope I'm doing this right!

I'm quickly seated and the interview begins.

"Well you're quiet the buzz in the Capitol miss Birch, no one can stop talking about that glittering water-y entrace you made."

I raise an eyebrow and fake surprise, "Oh really? I didn't know."

There's laughter from the crowd.

Even Ceasar has an amused look on his face, "Really, you must have notice some of the attention?"

I shake my head, then roll my eyes, "I just though they were all screaming at Finnick."

He nods, "Ah yes, Finnick Odair tell me how is it to have such a famous mentor after all."

I lean in a hurt expression on my face, "Now Ceasar, are we here to talk about me or my mentor, because I'm sure he'll gladly come up here and steal the show."

I see him lean back, giving a wave of dismissal, "Alright, alright, but I'm sure we're all dying to know, about a little rumor that's been going around about a certain tribute and mentor, your District parter says you two are getting along _swimmingly _do you have anything to add to this?"

I shake my laughing softly, "No there's nothing going on between me and Odair. Even though he wishes there was." I say smirking, and look directly at Finnick who's sitting in the second row.

He leans back, winking at me, and mouths ' you know you want me'

I roll my eyes, "Yeah right!" I shoot back.

The crowd is in a roar of laughter at our banter.

I can't say I'm not laughing myself, on the inside at least.

When the sound of the crowd has died down Ceasar take his chance to ask, "So… that evaluation score," he pauses, trying to find the right way to word it, "that was quite… interesting I don't believe anyone has ever gone an eight _and_ a half before."

I laugh lightly and inwardly _cring. Think of a good one quick Alanna._

"Well what can I say, I do have some tricks my sleeve Ceasar. That shark put up a hard fight." I said mysteriously, leaving room for curious minds.

Gasps and whispers emits from the audience.

"Well," says Ceasar excitedly, "That sounds like it deserved at least a ten." I smile sweetly as he turns to address the audiance, "Don't you think folks." A roar of applause erupts from the house and I barely resist the urge to cover my ars.

Turning back to me he says, "I hear you're not teaming up with the Careers this year is that true?"

I smirk, "You'll just have to wait and see for yourself I guess, my lips are sealed on that one."

He puts on a fake hurt look, "oh torture," and then the buzzer sounded, "Well I guess that's it. Good luck in the Games Alanna. May the odds be ever in _your_ favor."

The ride home was a blur, as we got to our floor everyone sank down on the couch to watch the replays but I excused myself under the claim of going to bed.

I walked into the cold dark room, the pale moonlight streamed through the window. I decided to leave the lights off, at least then everyone would think I'd gone to bed, but really there's no way I'd get any sleep tonight. I throw off my dress and change into a pair of warm fluffy pajamas.

With a sigh that fills the room like a thunderous echo, I sit on the floor by the window. This could very well be my last night alive. I find myself singing the song my mother and I sang every reaping. It was a very bitter-sweet story too.

_**If I die young, bury me in satin**_

_**Lay me down on a, bed of roses**_

_**Sink me the river at dawn**_

_**Send me away with the words of a love song**_

I lose myself in the song, as I sing I hear the door creak open slightly. I don't even have to guess who it is, but I don't turn around, I just keep singing,

_**So put on your best boys and I'll wear my pearls**_

_**What I never did is done**_

_**A penny for my thoughts oh no, I'll sell em' for a dollar **_

_**They're worth so much more after I'm a gonner **_

_**and maybe then you'll hear the words I've been singin'…**_

My voice goes quiet and I can barely finish.

_**Funny… when you're dead… how people start listnen'**_

"Did you make that up yourself?" Finnick's voice sounds so loud in the empty room.

I shake my head, "No," I say, "my mother use to sing it to me every reaping though."

I see him nod his head, "Mind if I sit down."

I look at him with mock socked expression, "Since when have you _ever_ asked to do anything?"

He laughs, "You think you know me so well don't you," he says, sitting down beside me.

"Well seeing as how you didn't wait for my answer before you plop down beside me, I guess I do."

He rolls his eyes, "Like you would have said no."

I shrug, "I might have."

He gives me an 'oh really?' look.

Which I find myself rolling my eyes at and playfully shoving his shoulder, "Hey, maybe I might have wanted to be alone."

"With the nightmares?"

I can't clearly see his face but I look up anyways.

"Please you forget I was a tribute once too you know," I watch him sigh, "I couldn't sleep that night either, I told myself I wanted to be alone that I didn't need anybody either." He looks up at me, both of us staring eye to eye.

"What were they about, the nightmares I mean?"

He shakes his head sadly, "I saw myself dying, multiple times, in various different ways, I think in all I got three hours of sleep that night."

I just nod and he continues, "They never go away though, the dreams, they change. It's not so much me dying as having to relive the horrible things I did to other kids."

I collapse on my bed shivering, those nonexistent gory images making it into my own head. Is this what I'll have to look forward to then, as victor, being permanently torched within my own mind?

"I wonder if anybody'll remember me when I die," I say flatly.

Finnick looks at me pointedly but there's a glint of pain lighting those green, " Hey," he says settling on the bed beside me, "you _did_ get a _pretty_ good score." I shot him the 'look' but he ignored it, "And you're clever, and a smart mouth," he bumps my shoulder, "Alanna you have a chance don't count yourself out before you even get the chance to try."

I look up slowly as he sat on the edge beside me, "You really think that?" my eyes gaze straight into his, searching for an answer.

He smirks, trying to lighten the mood, "Have I _ever _been wrong?"

I quirk my own eyebrow up at him, "Do you really want me to answer that?"

"Yes, actually. I think It'd be quiet entertaining to see what elaborate _lie_ you come up with." He leans back, resting on his elbows, shooting me a taunting look.

Too tired to get into another pointless argument, I roll my eyes, crossing my arms in front of me.

A yawn escapes me as I start to sway, finding it kind of hard to sit up. I jerk out of a daze as an important question hit me out of nowhere,

"Fin…" I say yawning.

He raises a curious eyebrow at me, this is the first time I'd ever given him a nickname.

"If I don't make it out- not that I'm being pessimistic here," I say, cutting off his words, "But if- well," I let out sigh forcing myself to get out what needed to be said, "I had a cat back home who always kept me company and he'll have no one to feed him… Do you think you could find a home for him if-"

He puts a finger to my lips, stopping my stupid rambling, "Anything you want Seashell," he says in a breathy whisper.

A smile forms on my lips beneath his finger and he smiles back. Not a smirk, one of those rare smiles. Were we having a moment?

I quickly jerk my head away, a silent, small, wet tear sliding down my face. Even if we had it was pointless in the next few hours I could very well be dead and gone from the Earth anyway.

I feel a hand reach up toward brushing aside a stray strand of hair and resting on my shoulder, "I know this sounds completely idiotic, but try to get some sleep o.k?"

I shrug and nod. A silent minute passed between us. Slipping off the bed he leaned down in front of me, his gaze held mine,"I won't be here tomorrow when you wake up so I guess you could count this as good-bye."

He smiled softly at me, and in that moment I pulled him into a hug. No words could really express how I felt, the gratitude for all his help, and company, like it or not I'd actually taken a liking to 'Finnick Odair', he wasn't at all like I'd assumed and exactly alike at the same time. He'd been there when I needed someone, when my confidence fell, when I was scared, he'd been there cheer me up and lighten up my darkest moods. Releasing him slowly I whispered in his ear, "Thank you."

There was a soft light to his eyes, like a smile, all cocky arrogance gone from them. He leaned down pressing a kiss to my forehead, a sad smile on his face, "Sleep well Lannie."

He pauses at the door looking back at me and says, "And just so you know, _I_ could _never_ forget you." Th door closes quietly behind him and I crawled into bed, burrying my head under the covers to hide myself from reality until dawn.


	15. Chapter 15: The Sun is Going Down

**Author's Note: again thanks to; Dancing-Souls, Peace Love Hunger games, Clato4eva888, Sweet Carolinexx for the reviews you guys rock. **

**Anyways, Clato4eva888 pointed out something that I probably should have clarified in the first chapter. Just in case you guys can't tell; no there will be no Annie in this story or series. So Finnick is not in love with a non-existant character I guess you could say.**

**The reason; if she did, I'd have to make her Finnick's sister or something and you guys would probably call me out on contradicting the book. **

**O.K. so, since that's out of the way, well first chapter of the games.**

**And honestly it took a long time to write, hope you guys like it. And let's just say I tried to create an arena that hasn't been done before for fanfiction. So tell me what you guys think; is the arena cool, creepy, been done before (which I hope not) let me know :) Oh and tell me if you guys caught what song the chapter title is a reference to.**

**And to get this out of the way; I do not nor claim to own the rights to the song; This is War by: 30 seconds to Mars.**

**PS: did anyone else see the new Catching Fire trailer that came out yesterday? It has got to be the best one yet in my opinion.**

**Well; May the 70th Annual Hunger Games begin! And may the odds be ever in your favor tributes!**

* * *

**Chapter 15: The Sun is Going Down **

**This is War**

_It's the moment of truth, and the moment to lie_

_It's the moment to live, and the moment to die._

_It's the moment to fight (x3)_

_From the right, to the left,_

_we will fight, to the death…_

* * *

It was a fairly silent, not to mention, depressing morning to say the very least. The dinner table was so quiet you could hear a single breath escape from across the room.

To be honest I mostly just sat there picking at my food for a good fifteen agonizing minutes before reminding myself Finnick would probably have a fit if he found out I skipped breakfast the day of the games. Managing to get down a plate of eggs and a piece of peanut butter toast I excuse myself and slip off to the Kitchen to share a tear-y,

heart-wrenching good-bye with the boy I hadn't seen in years, and probably would never see again.

We clung to each other tightly, and would never have parted had I not heard Stella's annoying mouse voice yelling down the hall that we were leaving in two minutes.

The ride up on the elevator to the roof was as nerve-racking and as horrible as you'd think.

If you've ever had that feeling that your life is slipping away from you with every passing second, you'd know what I mean.

My arm is injected with some metallic tracker that has been imbedded in my sensitive skin, (yeah as if that didn't hurt at all) and I am being led to the hovercraft that is waiting to carry me to my death.

When we reach the catacombs under the arena I am quickly escorted down the bleak hall toward the launch room.

The metal barred door rolls shut with a loud clang behind me and I am left standing there in the frigid cold room. It takes me a second to notice Pisces is there too. He gets up from the stone bench and ushers me over. Turning his back as I change into my uniform; a dark (almost black) navy top, black pants, boots, and a leather jacket. I start to wonder what is up with the all black wardrobe choice as Pisces guides me over towards the launch tube, the computerized voice telling us we have exactly 10 seconds before launch.

Well, no time to worry about that now. I guess I'll find out in a few minutes anyway.

I take in a shaky deep breath, my body trembling uncontrollably with fright. My mind going frantic at the last minute, trying to find loopholes to get me out of these stupid suicidal Games, but there are none. So I suck it up and pretend I'm not scared to death, and hold my head high, my eyes on my stylist as he presses the launch button. "May the odds be in your favor, Sea goddess," he says with an eerie smile.

I clasp the bracelet around my wrist as I'm jolted upward with a sudden moving force beneath my feet.

I can hear the booming voice of the announcer echoing above me; "Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventieth Annual Hunger Games begin!"

Darkness… That's the first thing my mind registers as my moving pedestal comes to a smooth halt. I can't see anything! Even my own hand, which I wave 5 inches in front of my face.

A cold burst of wind rushes past my face, and I am immediately glad for the jacket.

Then I hear the countdown start, beginning at 60 'til it reaches 1 and by that time I have to choose, rush head first into the blood-bath or run away… somewhere, wherever this is.

**30 seconds.**

I'll just grab what I can and run.

**20 seconds.**

But… I can't really run one way or the other if I don't even know where I am!

**10 seconds.**

_Just run you're dead meat either way!_

**5.**

I position myself to run, straight into death's _oh so welcoming_ arms.

**3.**

**2.**

**1.**

All of a sudden a dozen burning lights glare down on us like mega street lights and the arena is lit up. And there looming on the concrete floor is the giant golden cornucopia.

I force myself to stare past the blinding light and make a quick dash forwards, stopping short as I see out of the corner of my eye, one boy who hadn't put on the brakes fast enough as he went right over the side of the building. We were on some kind of building!?

It seems a good many of us have either been dazed or blinded because I see half of the tributes still standing on their pedestals, confused expressions on their faces. And the other half, who must have been thinking like me, rushed for the mound already engaging in bloody combat.

I force myself not to gag as I step through a pool of blood, to pull out a pack and some knives, dodging quickly as someone rushes at me with bare hands.

Yeah that's not the smartest move when I've got the weapon, don't ya think?

I make the mistake of turning around, my eyes gaze at the gory battlefield. Nightmarish screams and sadistic yells ring out from every corner.

I almost trip over an amputated arm, several fingers missing from it, as I make a dash for the side of the building. There must be some way out of here, the whole arena can't be this tiny rooftop. I peer down over the edge and sure enough, there's a metal ladder attached to the wall.

The screams rage above me and out of the corner of my eye I see kids actually flinging _themselves_ off the roof.

If I wasn't in survival mode at the second I might have been stunned beyond words. The only thought my brain can quickly process is _quitters!_

As my feet touch down I'm off like a rocket speeding down the barren street, the street lights now flickering to life.

"There she is. Get her!" I hear the pack of careers shout savagely from behind, shouting bloodthirsty war cries. If I wasn't already racing down the coal-black streets at top speed, I was now. I dodge behind a dumpster to catch my breath, my heart almost stops as I hear _their_ voices, coming closer.

"I saw something dodge over here."

I'm so dead.

Footsteps come closer, a glaring light shines straight in my eyes and I flinch seeing Riptide pointing the flashlight like a gun at my face.

"Did you find her?" Victor's deep voice booms.

Time goes by sickeningly slow as I see Riptide's lips curl into a cruel ruthless smirk.

I cringe. Just say it already, might as well get this nightmare over with.

Keeping his eyes on me intently Riptide calls back, "Nope, nothing, just rotting dumpster trash and _rats_."

What in the name of the 12 Districts in Panem is he playin' at?!

Riptide gives me one last smirk, "Better run _princess_, wouldn't want you dying the first day, that would be way too unentertaining."

Victor shouts at Riptide to 'hurry up,' to which he rolls his eyes and replies, "Alright, shut up already."

My eyes trail Riptide watching him suspiciously till he's out of sight.

I shove myself to my feet with a shaky breath, adjust the backpack straps, and flinch as a loud boom resonates through the dark sky overhead.

Of course, the first of the cannons goes off signaling the end of the bloodbath, 11 shots all in a row.

Finding a few foot and hand holds in the chain-link fence I heave myself over, pricking my self on the loose wire strands jutting out.

_O.k. now what?_ My mind thinks, trying to come up with a game plan as I stand there alone, out in the open on the deserted city street, the rusty street lights glowing yellow.

I keep expecting a car to come racing down the street at any moment thus turning me into road kill. Though I know this is silly, we're in an arena and none of this creepy city and all, are real.

Feeling quiet vulnerable out here, I stick to the cracked, dirty sidewalks, passing big empty apartment complexes. It becomes unnervingly quiet, there hasn't been a single cannon shot or anything. I almost wish something would happen if only to calm my nerves.

Veering off from the rows of endless empty homes, I stray down the dark narrow alleyways between houses.

It quickly becomes quite monotonous weaving my way though narrow passageway to narrow passageway. After a while I cannot tell the difference between the way I've been going and the street I'm turning down; they all look exactly the same. There are no, and I mean no, lights down these back streets either. Just a void, black, starless sky hanging over head. I've begun to realize something's very wrong. The sun has not come up… at all, and it must at least be the middle of the afternoon by now.

I keep this unnerving discovery in mind as I walk down yet another eerie, dark, slender alleyway. A soft noise echoes behind me and I freeze, with a silent motion drawing one of my knives. Just in time too, as my attacker strikes a heavy blow to my blade, making my arm sting from the sudden impact.

Reacting on instinct I kick forward aiming a blow to the boy's gut then in a quick downwards motion send a strike against his blade knocking it to the floor, gritting my teeth I slash at his unguarded abdomen doing what must be done. It's not a fatal gash but painful enough to hinder any further thoughts of pursuit.

Snatching the knife I run off moments later hearing… a cannon shot.

That blow couldn't have killed him could it?

No. Someone must have spotted the poor injured kid and killed him off, in cold blood.

Not that I was any better. Thanks to me the kid had not even the smallest hope of defending himself.

I wince. I didn't even know what district he was from, let alone his name, and indirectly I was now responsible for a death.

Another cannon echoes to my left as I veer off to the right. That makes about 13 of us dead within just one day.

I jump behind a building, hearing a loud engine roaring overhead and look up, seeing a metallic thing shining in the voidless sky as a claw reaches down picking up another lifeless body.

I shake my head at the hopelessness of it all, but that's how the games go, people are going to die, cannons are going to be fired, until one of us remains, and there's nothing for it.

Blood splatters stain the sidewalk as I pass empty warehouses. The chilling cries begin to ring through the night, coming from every direction, both the right and the left.

The street lights suddenly go out as I duck into a warehouse while people continue to fight to the death.


	16. Chapter 16: Shotguns and Nightmares

**Author's Note: O.K., well thanks to: Finnicks Girl, FearlessBohemian, Dancing-Souls, Sweet Carolinexx, and Peace Love Hunger games for the reviews and positive feedback on the new arena :) Thanks so much, you guys rock!**

**Well, as always, I do not nor claim to own the rights to the song used in this chapter; Hurricane by; 30 Seconds to Mars.**

**And I have to say I'm still working on the next chapter after this one, so I apologize in advance if the next update doesn't come for a couple weeks.**

* * *

**Chapter 16: Shotguns and Nightmares.**

**Hurricane by; 30 Seconds to Mars**

_Tell me would you kill to save a life_

_Tell me would you kill, to prove you're right_

* * *

Slumped against the wall of a deserted warehouse, I unbuckle the grey, synthetic pack.

A box of crackers, a water bottle, a flint stone, batteries, bullets, (a lot of good those will do without a gun!) and…sunglasses?

_Why in the 12 districts of Panem would anyone need sunglasses in an arena of perpetual darkness!?_

An odd static noise sound behind me, I swerve around to see an old broken TV set buzz to life, the screen flicking repetitively.

The Anthem plays as the Capitol seal appears;

A blood-red sky with a golden eagle perched atop broken arrow shafts.

The faces of the dead appear on screen;

Both from 6, 8, and 9. 10 is in the mix as well and I figured out he must have been the boy that attacked me last night. Both the boy and girl from 11 are gone, the boy from 3, the girl from 5, and the girl from 7.

I felt slightly sad for Jack, I hope he didn't know her too well.

So that now leaves us with the pair from 12, the boy from 5, the girl from 3, along with the Careers, and Jack.

I hope he's doing o.k.

The screen goes black again and I'm once again lost in darkness. Slouching on an old crate, I take a moment to rest, contemplating my next move.

It wouldn't be safe to stay in one spot for too long. As I discovered, none of these houses have locks on the doors. If I should at any moment fall asleep I could very likely not wake up.

But there were no trees to hide in, or anything else up off the ground for protection, so I was pretty much stuck here anyways since it really wasn't any safer out there.

I waste several minutes just sharpening a knife from my belt, trying prolong the assaulting drowsiness. It must be at least 10 o' clock at night by now, since the recaps of the day usually played around 9 in the previous games I was forced to watch.

Stay awake, stay awake! I snap at myself, my stomach growling all the while. The last thing I had eaten was breakfast and my unhappy body would not shut up.

But I was determined to make the food and water last since I had a bad feeling I wouldn't be finding an abundant supply of food or even prey for that matter just lying around.

The silence was starting to drive me insane as I sat there just sharpening my weapons with nothing to do. Was it like this with the other games? Did everyone just go so insane from boredom that they were willing to do whatever it took to end this torment? Of all the games I'd watched, only the action was televised, the less exciting day-to-day non-existent drama must have been carefully edited out. Because honestly, this was about as interesting as watching a goldfish sleep. Which meant, at least for the moment, I wasn't being nationally televised on every screen in every home of Panem.

I stop scraping the blade across the stone for a second, something felt off, though I couldn't tell what. I look around in the darkness but of course see nothing.

A hand suddenly clamps down over my mouth and I jerk back immediately jumping to my feet throwing my attacker to the ground, pinning him to the floor beneath my feet, my boot poised on his chest, my knife at his throat. I blink in surprise. It was Jack!

I back off immediately, sheathing my weapon. "You Axe-head!" I hissed, "I could've killed you!"

He sat up rubbing his neck, chuckling, "Jee, didn't know you hated me _that_ much."

I rolled my eyes and sat back on the wooden crate, "So, did you get anything?"

He shrugged, "Just this gun." He bangs the thing. "And with my ever growing luck there were only two bullets," he sighed, stuffing it into the loophole of his belt.

I nodded, "Which you used up already I assume?"

He gave me a pointed look, "Do you even need to ask?"

I laugh, digging into the pack and handing him the packet of round silver things. "Would these help any?" I ask, playfully.

He took them, stuffing them in his pocket, "Got anything else?"

I rummage through the bag again, although I already know, "A pathetic supply of food, one bottle, some batteries and these stupid sunglasses."

He raises an eyebrow, "Can I see those?"

I shove the pack at him and his eyes widen as he handles the glasses, "Hold up, how in the- Where did you get these?!"

I shrug wearily at this sudden outburst, "They were in the pack, lot of good they'd do you though."

He narrows his eyes like I've lost it, "You kidding me? These are a major game changer here!"

At my confusion he sighs, "These aren't sunglasses, they're night vision goggles. We used em' all the time back home. They help you see when it's pitch black out."

My eyes widen as he stuffs them back in the pack and hands it over to me. Well that does change things.

"Well, come on," I say, getting to my feet.

"What?"

I look at him pointedly, "Well, we can't just stay here. If you got in, who knows what else could be lurking in the shadows."

He shakes his head, "Very poetic, but…."

I lost focus on what he was saying, a slight sound of movement on hard floor echoed across the room.

"I think if there was anything up there…"

I quickly grab the night vision glasses from the pack as he babbled on. Switching the lenses on, I could just make out the figure of a lone person pressed up against a metal beam, gun poised, about to– my eyes widen and I grab Jack's arm, throwing us both to the ground.

Several shots fire consecutively as I raise the pack over my head to shield us from the whizzing bullets.

"What the-" I hear Jack say.

Stumbling to my feet I shut him up, "Don't talk, just run!"

Did anyone ever mention how hard it was to swing a backpack on your back while running for your life? Well, let me tell you it is extremely hard! My hand flies to my belt gripping the handle tightly. With the cold biting my face and heart racing I tore down the street, never stopping but giving a glance over my shoulder to check if Jack was still with me. Another array of bullets shot past us as we ducked behind an old dusty, abandoned car. The glass of the windshield shattered as the bullet went flying by over head just inches away from my eyes. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jack getting to his feet, drawing his own gun.

"What are you doing!?" I hissed.

He either didn't hear me or chose to ignore me. Either way I watch the idiot jump to his death as he hauled himself to the roof of the car. Brushing the blood from my brow I see a gun fire. Jack clutches his arm, a fatal mistake to be sure, for within a second the boy shoves him backwards off the car. There's a sickening bang as Jack's head hits the pavement. _Don't black out not now! _But he doesn't move a muscle as the boy jumps down from the car, drawing a knife.

NO! I will not let this boy kill him!

Jumping up, I hurl myself silently onto the car, swiping out my own blade ready to plunge it into my opponent's back-

BANG! The whistle of the gunshot is drowned out by cannon fire echoing in the air as the boy falls on top of Jack's unmoving body, head lolling on the pavement, lifeless. I stare in puzzlement and the next thing I know, Jack shoves the lifeless body off him, groaning and clutching his injured arm.

"Remind me never to do that again," he says hoarsely.

My knees drop to the floor, bending over him, checking the bloody mess, "You alright? Can you move it," I ask, trying to keep the worry out of my voice.

He grimaces, "Hurts like a rusty chainsaw grazed it, but I'll live."

I hold out a hand to help him up, sheathing the knife, "Come on. We gotta find a resting place, then I'll check your arm."

He puts a hand to my arm, stopping me. I give him a questioning look as he bends down, rolling the dead body on it's back, the blood staining through the back of the cotton jacket. I watch as he quickly removes the pack, sliding the gun from the boy's fingers as well.

"Alright, let's get out of here," he says, shrugging the pack on and handing me the gun.

My eyes linger on the boy. Who was he? He seemed slightly familiar. I realize the hundreds of things I would never know about the 23 other children who share in this death trap with me. It sickened me what the Capitol had done to us all. Had this boy's name not been picked, he might be sitting at home right now with his family, complaining about school, worrying about tests and hanging with friends, watching what we were living through but far away and safe…

_I'm sorry,_ I apologized in my head, shaking it slightly, _you deserved better, all of us do_. Turning my back and squaring my shoulders I shove the gun in my, belt, stalking off down the dark, dreary road Jack at my side.

An excruciating half hour later, and _still_ with nothing decided, we trudge on aimlessly, my mind nearly going insane from the lack of sleep, my legs screamed in protest at ever step we took.

We'd barely escaped a run-in with the Careers as I pulled both of us into a nearby dumpster, hearing their footsteps fast approaching and having no desire for mortal combat in my tired deranged state, holding my breath blocking out the putrid, rotting stench.

"Who do ya think that was?" I heard an unfamiliar voice ask. Must be the boy from 1.

"Dunno and don't care. The cannon shot came from around this area. Whoever got the sucker's around here somewhere."

My eyes peer out through the small crevasse the lid fails to hide. Riptide stood there along with the rest of the pack, gun in hand, intimidating stance and all.

A fit of coughing sounded beside me, "Jeez you couldn't have picked a less nauseating place hide?"

"Shsh!" I slapped my hand over Jack's mouth.

"Don't think it was mermaid girl, do ya?" the boy from 1 asked.

Riptide snorted, "Please, her? The perfect little princess wouldn't hurt a fly if it punched her in the face."

A growl emits from my throat and this time Jack slaps his own hand over my mouth.

Rolling my eyes, I remove his hand, pressing closer to the lid.

"Well, we'd better find em' quick. We're wasting enough hunting time already," Victor says, his voice so close he must be standing in front of the dumpster now.

"I agree with Victor, man. Plus it's gotta be freackin' below zero out here." Says the boy from 1.

Riptide smirks at the blond boy, "You afraid of the cold, Nickel?"

Jack snickers from beside me and I jab him in the arm.

The boy shoots him a death glare, "It's Dime. Say that again and I'll rip your guts out, Fish Boy."

I quietly shoo a buzzing fly away from my face trying to listen. It lands on Jack's nose and he glares at me and sighs.

"Enough!" Victor roars, stopping their little catty fight, "We're wasting time. Let's go!"

The others start to follow his lead, but Riptide stood his defiant ground, "Yeah? And who died and made you Leader?" he challenged back.

Holding my breath, I try not to cough from the putrid stench of rot filling my nose. Note to self; dumpsters are definitely not the best place to hide.

Victor froze, his back to the bloodthirsty group. Turning around, a harsh glare flaming beneath his cold black eyes. "Nightmare, Dime, you take the eastside," he barked, flinging out his gun, stepping closer to Riptide all the while glowering, "The rest of you are comin' with me, that clear!?"

They all followed after Victor like sad little puppies, Riptide glaring daggers at the boy's back.

I could swear I heard Riptide mutter something along the lines of, "I'd watch my back if I were you."

Climbing out of my hiding place when the coast is clear, pulling food and unidentifiable sludge from my hair, I shot a glance at Jack who was doing the same, muttering things under his breath as well.

"I think I just lost all sense of an appetite thanks to you."

I wave him away annoyed, "Quit whining. At least we know which way _not_ to go."

We head up north towards the uptown part of the city passed rundown shops that looked like they hadn't been open for ages. Busting open the door to an old book store we carefully search the area. Dropping my pack on the side-table, I collapse on a ratty old couch, the stuffing and foam seeping out the large gash.

"Well, this seems as good of a place as any,"I say, resisting the urge to rub my throbbing feet. "Now, let's see the damage."

He stands by the broken window, vacant eyes searching the empty street. "Jack!" I snap, getting his attention. I motion for him to join me on the couch so I can inspect the wound on his arm.

He takes off the jacket, throwing it aside. I grimace, looking at the dried, bloody mess, the metal bullet protruding from the hole in his flesh. Diving head first into a dirty dumpster may not have been the best idea sanitary-wise.

"Alright, first things first," I grab the water bottle from the pack, pour a small amount into the cap, then rinse his arm with it.

I mentally cringe knowing what must be done next. _if only we had a first-aid-kit _digging out one of the smaller knives, I grab his arm.

"O.K., to be honest, this is probably going to hurt a lot, but we gotta get that bullet out before you get some kind of infection." Thanks to my experience at the dock, having a hook painfully yanked from my lip after a fishing incident, I was told after the fact that you do not want to get hurt by rusty metallic objects; you'll become extremely ill, and without medicine, you could possibly even die. Thankfully Cair's father had one of those shots on board with them that day…

Poking the wound with one finger I raise the knife, sliding it in under the bullet, trying to ignore his curses and hisses of pain. It took some jostling to loosen the metallic thing free from his flesh. Then with a last gentle pull it slides free along with a stream of blood.

Great, why hadn't I thought of that. Grabbing the other pack I frantically search for something to staunch the dark red blood trickling down his arm like a brook. My hands catch something cold, a metal box with the title- And here I groaned, mentally hitting myself. Printed on the front lid were the words: FIRST AID KIT.

Jack cocked his head at me, "What?" he croaked in a hoarse voice.

I kept my back towards him, not answering as I pull out a roll of gauze, using the medical scissors to slice a strip. I quick and discreetly as possible, shove the box in my own pack before turning back and bandaging up his arm.

"Thanks," he said, rubbing his arm and shrugging into his jacket.

I shrug, "No problem."

I watch as he hops up on the cashier counter. "I'll take the first watch, and wake you when I can't keep my eyes open any longer," he says, setting the gun by his side.

I raise an eyebrow with a concerned glare. "What?" I say, shaking my head, "Uh, no way, Axe-head. I may not be a doctor, but I'm pretty sure that wound'll just get worse if you don't rest."

Though I couldn't see him clearly, his smirk echoed in the room loudly enough, "Please, this? I admit it's more than a scratch, but I'll be fine." His head turned to me, "And no offense, Stingray, but judging by the way your eyelids are fluttering shut kind of makes me doubt you'd be the best sentry here."

He did have a point, and I _was_ tired.

"Fine," I groan, plopping the pack on the sofa, "Whatever, but you're waking me at sunrise whether you're tired or not." After a second I mumbled, "or in this case I guess, by street light."

I lay on my back, my head on the arm of the couch, staring across the street at the broken door, blood smeared across it like paint, the glass shattered around a gaping hole in the wall. Turning on my side I close my eyes tight. If I ever did get to sleep, I would be plagued by nightmares for sure.


	17. Chapter 17: Radioactive

**Author's Note: as always big thanks to; Dancing-Souls, and Peace Love Hunger games for reviewing :)**

**Anyways, phew, can't believe I actually got this chapter done on time, which was just a few hours ago really.**

**Well ,hope you guys like the little surprise near the end of the chapter, and definitely, tell me what you think, I'm kind of worried where this is going and hope you guys don't think it's too crazy.**

**And yeah; I do not claim own any of the rights to the song; Radioactive by; Imagine Dragons.**

**PS: there's a quick Author's note a the bottom too, please be sure to read it when you're done k?**

**:)**

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**Chapter: 17: Radioactive**

**Radioactive by; Imagine Dragons**

_I'm waking up to ash and dust  
I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust  
I'm breathing in the chemicals  
I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus  
This is it, the apocalypse_

_I raise my flags,_

_It's a revolution I suppose_

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Shielding my eyes from the glaring street lights, I jerk my head down, batting at my eyes. Note to self – never stare straight into street lights while wearing night shades ugh.

The door creaked as Jack kicked it open, dust pouring out like smoke. Shadows from the streetlights flooded through the windows. Inside the air was thick and muggy, boxes and crates littered the floor, a broken ladder lay on its side. The place was deserted.

Kneeling on the ground, I tore open the flap of a cardboard box. Sheet after sheet of plastic bubble wrap went flying carelessly over my shoulder as I burrowed to the bottom. I sat back and sighed. Nothing, no food, water, or ammunition. It was the same with the rest too, just empty.

"Anything?" Jack asked, tossing a wrap of bubbles off his head.

I shook my head, "Nope, absolutely nothing." I coughed a little, probably from the dust. "Let's go."

The night air was hot and sticky, as though the sun should be out, and it should; time-wise it must be about mid-afternoon.

We searched several other warehouses in search of food or anything useful, and all of them were, eerily enough, abandoned.

We stopped for a moment, Jack hopped on the hood of a broken-down car.

"Well, we're really getting a lot done today."

I shot him an annoyed look, he didn't say anything, just shrugged. I rummaged through the pack, opened a box of crackers and tossed him his ration.

Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I gulped down my ounce of water. Tossing my jacket in the bag, I jumped up on the car, leaning back and laying my head on the windshield. My eyes wandered towards the sunless, starless, sky. Nothing up there but a dark void. I don't know why but it was starting to get on my nerves. A sane voice in the back of my mind screaming; this is not right, not natural!

And it wasn't, but that didn't surprise me much.

I shook my head, leaning on my elbows, one leg dangling off the hood, the other propped up in an arch.

From beside me Jack shoots a low whistle.

"So," he said, as I turned my head in his direction, "what do we do now, oh great strategist?"

I sighed and shrugged, blowing out hot air in the already humid night.

"Continue our _endless quest for supplies,_" I say dramatically.

Jack nodded hopping down. He held his hand out to me and I frowned.

"My lady," he said in a courtly sort of manner. And I almost laughed from the ridiculousness of it.

Bowing and playing along, I said, "Why thank-you, Good Sir."

Shrugging on the pack and placing a sharper blade in my belt I push my hair back from my eyes, scanning the area.

"How about over there, we haven't checked there yet," I pointed my finger towards a row of apartment buildings. Each floor was stacked atop the other so that to reach the next apartment you had to climb a thin rusty old staircase which shined sinisterly in the street light glow.

With the bottom floor scouted, the only thing left to check were the apartments up above.

Putting one foot on the stairs I cringe as my boot scuffs across the surface. The clang of rusty metal resonates into the all too silent night. Forcing myself onwards, we climb several flights up till the first door actually comes into view.

The apartment room, to no surprise, was empty. Having sheethed my knife, I took a few steps on the plush carpeted floor. I covered my mouth coughing in the stuffy room.

Finding my way to the kitchen I pull open the fridge door.

Nothing.

I put my hand in the freezer out of curiosity and it wasn't even cold.

Another useless prop made by the Capitol.

The sink knobs don't work either. Oh the knobs turn back and forth alright but no water comes out.

I ball my hands into fits fighting hard not to open my mouth and curse the Capitol.

I don't even bother trying to switch on the lamp by the sofa, knowing it was just another fake as well.

Slamming the door, I trudge up the stairs, which seemed to extend vertically, straight up skywards, like a thin ladder welded to the wall.

Heaving myself onto the porch of the last apartment I held onto the door handle to haul myself up.

Jack stood outside on the balcony as I kicked the door in, splintering its center to pieces. It fell forwards with a loud crash, and I quickly sidestepped to avoid being taken down with it.

The stench coming from the apartment was so bad it made my eyes water. It smelled like something dead, not rotting decomposed dead, but dead all the same.

Leaning on the wall I go into another caughing spell for a second, then try to catch my breath. My head throbs, giving me an awful headache.

I quietly yank open the bedroom door, the awful smell curls around the room like a cloak. A lifeless unmoving body lay sprawled across the mattress.

I grab a knife from my belt inching up on the black-haired girl, her eyes closed in sleep.

I give her a slight shove and she falls to the floor with a thud. I back up tensing for an attack but she doesn't move.

"Uh, Jack get in here," I call out. Ooh. I press a hand to my head; jeez make the throbbing stop.

I lean down next to the lifeless form checking her pulse. She was dead. That was odd, considering she had no apparent wounds or anything.

"I wouldn't linger here if I were you."

Quick as a flash I whip around at the sound of a foreign voice.

It was the District 12 boy.

I raised my knife and Jack cocked his gun, his finger on the trigger, ready to shoot.

The 12 boy raised both hands in the air but didn't back away. "Jeez, easy there. I come in peace."

I didn't believe him though. I could feel Jack tense beside me, contemplating whether or not to lower his gun.

Keeping a firm grip on my weapon and eyeing the boy suspiciously I snapped, "What do you want 12?"

For a second I thought I saw worry cross the brown-haired boy's blue eyes, but he quickly recovered, crossing his arms, watching us mildly, "My partner and I have a proposition for you."

I raise an eyebrow as I hear Jack go into a small coughing fit beside me. "And that would be?"

"Well, I could explain it to you, and we could stand here and slowly die of toxic air pollution," he pauses letting this sink in as my eyes narrow curiously. He knows something, something we don't. "Or I can take you guys somewhere safe, and you both hear us out."

With a huff I shove my blade in the belt, "Fine 12 but you're climbing down first. I won't let you stick a blade in our backs."

He shakes his head, "Who said anything 'bout going down the stairs?" Stepping out onto the front balcony he opened a side door I hadn't seen before, "Oh, don't tell me you two took the long way up."

I rolled my eyes as a rusty elevator door screeched open. Grumbling behind his back, I stared at the wall the whole ride down.

As soon as the elevator comes to a screeching halt we hop off following the 12 boy as he tore down the street, pausing once to look back at us and stopped.

I shot a glance behind me as a flash of lightning lit the sky and a loud BANG roared. Within seconds the whole apartment complex crumpled, chunks of concrete flying high, slamming into the ground with a thunderous crash. The remaining floors went up in flames.

"What the heck was that?" Jack exclaimed as we both stopped around the corner to catch our breaths.

"Carbon monoxide build-up." Grunted the District 12 boy, traipsing on again ahead of us.

We follow the yet-to-be named boy down the passages, side streets and alleyways, coming close to what I expected was the outer edge of the arena.

He leads us around the backside of a brick building, lamp-post style lights hanging down from the awnings.

I screech my feet to a halt on the stone pavement, as our guide jerks to a stop abruptly. In front of us stood a wooden door, protruding from the brick wall, metallic rivets lining the plank-board. It looked quite out of place in this modern arena.

Inside, large barrels lay scattered around the premise, some upright and others fallen on their side. A bad odor fills the room, but from where I can't exactly tell.

The boy crouches down next to what looks like a drop down cellar door and bangs on the wood.

A small voice echoes from below, "What's the password?"

The boy leaned back and groaned, "Ember it's me."

"Copper?"

"Yes," Copper hissed back.

"Oh," said the girl's voice, but the door still didn't open. "Password first."

Obviously frustrated, Copper ran a hand through his hair. "Ember!" he growled.

"O.k. O.k. Gosh can't take a joke can you?" We heard a rusty creaking noise like a bolt unlatching and Copper yanked the door open.

A warm flickering light glowed from below.

I watched warily as Copper jumped down, Jack following suit.

Looking around, in case of sudden ambush, I sighed moving to the edge and leaped into the soft yellow light.

Row after row of shelves filled the large basement, an old-style lantern hung from a wood cross beam up above. A chair sat at the far end next to an old leather trunk, and there standing behind the chair, her arm resting on its back, was a girl who I suspected was from 12 as well. Her face was covered in dirt, a strip of cloth was wound tightly around her head, soaked red from caked on, dried blood.

Her oddly colored, orange eyes narrowed at us.

"Well, guess you did find them after all," she said to Copper.

He grunted in reply, jerking the hoodie over his head, pulling up a stool to sit on.

She sighed, turning her attention to us. "I apologize for my partner's _rude behavior."_ She shot him a glance, "Mr. Broody over there doesn't do the socializing thing." I find that odd; he was pretty talkative earlier.

She ignored his glare, holding her hand out to us, "I'm Ember, the brick over there is Copper."

Jack takes her hand but I avoid making eye contact.

"I'm Jack," he says.

Ember smiles, her face turning somewhat pink.

She looks to me smiling.

I hate to be mean to her but I have an act to keep up. Shifting my wieght from one foot to the other, I narrow my eyes at her. "It's Alanna," I say with a smirk, "Now can we get to the point, or did you just invite us over to play tea party."

Ember frowns, "Is she usually this um..." She trailed off not able to find a word for it. Jack nods his head and I glare at him.

"Right," Ember's voice broke in, "Well, plain and simple we need your help."

"And we would help you, because?" I goaded, hand on one hip the other hanging lazily by my side.

"Because," Copper's voice broke in, sounding much lower and sullen than it had before, "You guys need food, of which we have plenty of."

My eyes widen as they dart to the row of shelves stocked with boxes and can after can on every shelf; how had I not seen it before?

"Assuming we did help you, " Jack said, cutting through the silence, "What would this _help_ entail?"

"Destroying the Careers." Copper said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I watched him sitting there scraping the edge of a crate with his pocket knife, obviously taking no interest in the conversation what-so-ever.

I weigh our options in my mind: Yes equals food, shelter,and a knife in the back while we sleep; No means we would be back to wandering the streets, having made an enemy of not only the Careers but of these two as well.

"I assume you have a plan," I said with a sigh.

"Oh yes," said the girl brightly holding up a withered scrap of paper with scribbles running across it, "Copper drew up a whole map of the arena and everything."

My eyes linger on the map awhile. Tearing them away finally I look to Jack, "What do you think?"

Jack didn't look at me though, his eyes were glued to the shelf of peanut butter sandwiches, and veggie ones wrapped in plastic. "I think I'm in heaven," he muttered.

I shook my head, well a lot of help he would be.

"Man, can I have one of those," Jack reached up to grab one of the sandwiches from the shelves but with a move quicker than I thought possible, Copper snatched it right out from Jack's grasp.

"You can," Copper said tearing off the wrapping, and biting into the bread, "once you guys agree to our deal."

Both of us girls shook our heads, watching Jack looking at the shelf like a dejected puppy.

Ember and I meet each other's gaze in an unspoken agreement. Boys!

I sigh for about what has to be the hundredth time within one hour, "Fine, we have a deal." I couldn't deny the fact that I was _somewhat_ hungry myself.

So the two of us sat there on the floor, papers and maps laid out in front of us like battle plans, while the boys ate.

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**Author's Note (Again): Well, now that you've read it, I should let you guy know I am completely honestly stumped on what this plan of theirs should be. If you guys have any good ideas, PLEASE, let me know.**

**Either by review or PM, and if I choose one of your ideas I'll be sure to acknowledge you in the next Author's note I promise.**


	18. Chapter 18: Operation Break-up

**Author's Note: Hey everyone, sorry it's been so long since the last update. Hope you guys didn't think I fell off the face of the earth :) It's been a little hecktic since school started up again, I haven't had much time to write. Plus, incase anyone's curious, this chapter was incredibly hard to write. **

** Anyways, as always, thanks to: Peace Love Hunger games, and Dancing-Souls. You guys rock! :) ****And thanks to all you guys for adding this story to your 'favorites' and 'alert' lists.**

**Also, before I forget; Big thanks to Dancing-Souls for giving me some ideas for their "plan" in this chapter :)**

**PS. I really am not sure when the next chapter post will be, but I can tell you we only have about three more chapters left of this story. So tell me what you guys think; are you excited for the end? Sad to see the first book end? Review and tell me what you think.**

**BTW the next chapter might be a Q&A with the characters if I can get enough questions. So feel free to send them in by Review or PM. It's doesn't matter what type of question really, just anything you'd want to ask the characters, (or comments to them as well); like what they think of another character, or what you think about them, who do they like etc.**

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**Chapter 18: Operation Break-Up**

I picked up one of the maps, which was just one cornor of the arena, trying to memorize and make sense of the twisting, winding, and curving roads.

I frowned, piecing all six sections together and let out a breath in amazement, "Hey, Ember, take a look at this."

She looked over my shoulder and gasped putting a hand to her mouth seeing what I saw.

All put together, and from a bird's eye view the twisting roads came together to form the image of the Capitol seal; a giant bird, the cross streets forming the broken arrows it sat upon. And that wasn't all. When you looked closer you saw that on the roof tops of the houses and buildings different etchings were carved out of the pavement forming the words; 70th Hunger Games.

I leaned back. The whole thing just disgusted me. "So what exactly is the plan again?"

Before Ember could answer Copper cut her off in his brooding voice, "There's no plan, not _yet_."

I raise an eyebrow, shooting a glance in his direction, "What?"

"What are you talking about?" Ember's voice chirpped in, "Of course we do! Remember the thing I showed you yesterday and you said it was good?"

"Yeah, well," Copper said, crossing his arms, "that plan stunk."

I huffed resisting the urge to throw my hands in the air dramatically, "So what are we doing?!"

The cellar door opened with a creak as Jack hopped down, "O.K.," he said,brushing his hands off on his pants, "You guys ready?"

"For what?" I said in utter confusion, "And where were you?"

"Bathroom duty," he stated, pulling on his jacket, slipping the shotgun in his belt loop.

Copper gave him a nod, folding a whithered piece of paper in his pocket and shoving in a pencil along with it.

Dropping the maps, Ember crossed her arms looking just as confused as me. "And where do you two gorillas think you're going?"

Copper turned, giving her a blank stare, "Tracking the Careers."

Ember stalked up to him, staring him down like a kitten would a German shepard, "Not. Without. Us."

Jack and I both stood there amused and slightly perplexed at the situation.

They stood there, glowering at each other, then Copper finally gave up. He groaned, rubbing a hand in frustration across his forehead. "I don't know how you do it. But fine, throw yourself in harm's way _again."_

Ember patted his cheek with a smirk, "Now was that so hard?" She swiped the pack off the chair and winked at me, "That's the good thing about big brothers; they're all pushovers."

Those two were related? I share a look with Jack and shrug. Well, I guess all the bantering makes sense, now.

I grabbed my pack and threw it over my shoulder.

"Hold it right there!" Copper snatched the backpack from Ember, "You are not bringing all that junk with you. You'll slow us down," he held it just out of her reach as she jumped for it, her face turning as red as her hair with frustration.

" It's my pack. I'll do what I want with it."

This went on for several minutes. I groaned, snapping at him to just hand her the pack. Jack, being the tallest (next to Copper) grabbed the pack from him, handing it over to Ember.

"Thanks, Jack," she said, in a happy sing-song voice.

I raised an eyebrow; well, somebody had a crush.

…..

I pulled my jacket closer around me as we trailed down the deserted road in the most ungodly hour in the morning. It was times like these I wished I had a watch.

Copper held the lead, map in hand, his eyes fixed ahead. Ember and I followed behind him leaving Jack at our back.

Ember shivered beside me, hugging her arms, "Gosh it's cold out here." Her breath lingering in the air, a thin strand of mist, "Am I the only one who gets the feeling we're about to get run over."

I cringed, _don't go giving the Game-makers any ideas!_

Copper halted dead in his tracks, all of us shot her cautious glares.

The electricty in tellephone wires hissed and sizzled, little sparks dancing along them. And why exactly did the arena need something as usless at phone wires?

The pavement beneath my feet swayed like a ship's deck at sea, and I almost lost my balance.

Apparently I wasn't the only one jolted. Jack bumped into me sending me stumbling forward bumping into Copper, who grunted.

"Sorry," both Jack and I said.

"What was that?" Ember asked trying to get her balance back.

I heard a gasp from behind me as Jack tapped my shoulder, "What?"

I cocked my head around, eyes widening and gasped! A gigantic metal vehicle flew towards us, headlights glaring bright as the sun.

"Off the street, now!" I shouted while shoving Ember in that direction.

Not a second later, as my feet hit the dirt, the bulldozer of death rocketed right where I'd been standing.

Copper ran a hand through his hair, turning to glare at Ember. "Next time," he growled, "keep your mouth shut."

We passed several houses, taking several side-streets and turns that began to seem very familiar. Tall buildings and sky-scrapers peaked over the tops of smaller roofs. A large brick-red building loomed ahead of us. Target located! We snuck around to the side, crouching under a broken window.

Three figures sat around the room on several crates. A figure stood leaning against a wall, broken glass scattered on the ground. It was obvious an argument was going on, from the rise and tone of their voices.

"All I'm saying is this place could do with a little color," said the blonde boy, a cannister in his hand.

The taller boy cocked his head, "You are such a girl," said Riptide.

The blonde boy sighed, shaking the bottle, "Some people just don't appreciate an artistic eye."

Covering his mouth with his sleeve, Riptide coughed, batting a hand at the air, "Well, keep the paint fumes on your side." With a glare, Riptide walked out of view off towards the back.

"Dime, Sweety," said the blonde girl in an overly girlie voice, "Play me a little music please. I need something to dance to."

Dime sighed, "Fushia-"

Fushia threw herself at him, twirling a piece of blond hair, running the other hand through his hair, "Please, baby, for me?" she said, seductively.

"No. No. No-" shouted the black-haired girl, sporting a glare colder than death itself, "No music. I hate that racket."

Both girls glared at each other.

Riptide growled from somewhere far off in a corner, "Would you both just shut up. Jeez, someone shoot me now, put me outta this dang misery."

The door swung open with a loud bang as it hit the wall. Victor stalked into the room, yanking Dime's sketch pad away, calling everyone to attention.

"All right, looks like it's down to us, 12, goddess girl, and that District 7 kid."

"Bravo, Captian Obvious." The black-haired District 2 girl said, sharpening a spear-tip.

"Anyone see where my coat went?" Fushia, asked digging through a pile of sheets, then dropping them. "Oh eww, no way would I wear that thing again anyway."

It was rather boring watching them argue. Jack and Ember had taken to playing a game of tick tacks with a piece of broken chalk and the wall beside us.

"Crap, lost again. You sure you're not cheating?" Jack mumbled shooting Ember a mock glare.

She grinned like a cat, scratching a white X through the boxes.

Leaning back, I banged my head against the wall. Perhaps a bit too loud, given the annoyed stare I got from Copper. This was getting us nowhere!

"Let's just go," I said into Copper's ear, then getting to my feet.

"Not yet," he said, shoving me back down, his eyes still on Dime and Riptide, who were again bickering like cats.

"Yeah, well, you don't smell too fresh either Fish Guts."

"Wanna say that again, Pipsqueak!" Riptide shoved Dime and he fell over onto Fushia, who shrieked.

"Ew! Get off me. You're covered in paint!"

Running a blue, paint-stained hand through his hair frustratingly, Dime snapped, "Yo, that's it. I'm takin' a walk." Muttering something about 'fix' and 'car' to himself, Dime strode out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

Fushia, utterly detached from the world around her, looked up from examining her nails. "I think a diamond braclet would look totally fabulous with my outfit, don't you think?"

I elbowed Copper whispering into his ear, "I'm gonna see where he's going. You coming?"

A gurgling, growling sound echoed out of nowhere and we turned around in several directions.

"Sorry. Hungry I guess," Jack said, crossing out the game.

Ember frowned then stopped, her stomach obviously protesting too.

It must have been like a yawning disease, because the next thing I knew my own insides were complaining.

Ignoring the pain I said, "Why don't you two head back. Copper and I are goin' after 1."

Scribbling something on a piece of paper, Copper stuffed the note in his pocket, "All right let's go."

…

Dime, his back towards us, bent over the hood of an old car, the hood propped up and open. It was obvious he was fixing something. The fresh coat of blue paint on the body gleamed under the yellow street lights.

He tossed his jacket onto the windshield, continuing to tweak and tighten wires here and there. Slamming the hood down he yelled as the top crashed on his hand.

"Dang-it! Crap, that hurts," he muttered, yanking the driver's door open. "O.k., come on baby, work."

The motor buzzed to life for a few seconds, but then quickly died. Dime banged his head against the steering wheel, enacting a loud 'HONK' from the car.

I watched Copper as he scribled notes down furiously. Every now and then he'd glance at Dime, and nod in an 'all knowing' sort of way.

I took out a piece of paper and wrote down what I could as well, though it wasn't very much.

….

"You should have seen the look on Victor's face when Riptide told him 'where he could go'," Jack said over dinner that night.

I brushed a piece of chewed bread off my cheek and glared at him with a sigh. It was a sad meal that consisted of small veggie sandwiches, made of soggie bread, and wilted lettuce. And luke-warm water. We all crouched around the trunk/desk, looking over the map.

"Told you it would take him three seconds to lose it. You owe me," Ember said.

Jack frowned, "No way. That was way longer than three. More like six."

I bit into the bread, listening as Copper discussed our little observation.

"So here's the plan," Copper said, "It'd be easier if we split the herd up. Causing a little civil war should be easy, since they're not far from offing each other."

I nodded, gaging down a slice of sour tomato, "Divide and conquer," I confirmed.

Copper shrugged,"If all goes well."

"Wait a second," Ember piped, leaning over to get a better look at the map, "this so-called plan needs a name."

"Like what," Copper said chugging back half a bottle of water.

Ember slid the night-goggles over her eyes and smiled, a sly grin spreading widely across her face. "Operation Break-Up," she said, in a cliché secret agent spy voice.

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**Author's Note (again): Oh an one last thing; I know we can't make copy rights on these things since they're fanfictions ****(And I know you guys may hate me for this but) I would like to point something out, since I've seen these in a few recent Finnick stories that have been posted AFTER this story had been posted. As far as I know, I do own the design of the arena, I.E. modern city. And also the characters; Alanna, Jack, Riptide Sanderblade, Victor, Nightmare, Fushia, Dime, Cair, Stella Cart, Coral, Nyaid, Adraina, and Pieces. So please DO NOT rip off my characters.**

**PS: Remember please review, with comments or questions for the characters. :)**

**Or Victor might kill off Alanna... DOWN BOY! No bad sadistic character, bad! **

**Author thinks to herself:_ That would be bad, if Victor won then he'd kill off Finnick too, sigh no more sugar cubes :(_**


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